Instructions for Authors

  • Please refer to the Equator network website to find the appropriate good reporting flowchart and checklist to accompany your study.

Submission of manuscripts

Submissions to BJOG must be made online through Allentrack: http://bjog.allentrack.net. Paper manuscripts and email submissions are not accepted. Authors must register on the site, and use their login and password to access their Home Page (please avoid creating duplicate accounts, any problems accessing your AllenTrack Home Page please e-mail: bjog@editorialoffice.co.uk). From their Home Page authors will have access to the status of their manuscripts throughout the editorial process and, therefore, they should retain their login and password for future reference. It is essential that the email address for the Corresponding Author is entered correctly and is updated via the Author's Home Page if it becomes invalid at any time, as all correspondence regarding the submission will go to this email address.

Before submitting your manuscript please read both these instructions to authors and the BJOG editorial policies. Once you have logged into AllenTrack click on ‘Submit Manuscript’. After reading the instructions on this page you will need to select the appropriate article type at the bottom of the page and click ‘Continue’. You will be asked to enter specific information about the manuscript (e.g. title, type of manuscript, clinical category) prior to being asked to upload the actual manuscript files. There are also publication ethics questions to be answered. You will upload manuscript files from your computer as the last stage of the submission process.

Once your files are uploaded to the database, they will be converted by the system to PDF files that can be viewed, downloaded and printed. Manuscript files and your Cover Letter should be in MS Word or RTF format (we do not currently accept Word 2007 docx files, please save these files in compatibility format before submitting). Table files can be submitted as Excel files or MS Word files. Figures must be submitted separately from the text as TIFF, EPS, PDF or JPEG files. They should be in order and clearly labelled. Converting most files takes under ten minutes, but sometimes a large file will take longer. Conversion time also depends on the speed of your connection. The system will ask you to confirm that all files have converted correctly - please check your files to make sure that the system has converted each element properly. Your paper will be considered officially submitted only after the system receives this confirmation when you click on Approve the Converted Files. If your submission is not correct, the file will be returned to your Home Page for you to make any necessary corrections, as detailed in an email from bjog@editorialoffice.co.uk. Please follow the instructions below to increase the chances of your paper passing this initial quality control stage first time, avoiding delays to your submission. Once a paper has been correctly submitted through the online system, it is assigned a tracking number and is accessed by the Editor in Chief for his assessment.

Supporting Information (online only)

Please note that the length of papers in the printed journal is restricted, and authors are encouraged to consider selecting information for publication on the web only version, as supporting information. Supporting Information must be important, ancillary information that is relevant to the parent article but which is not essential in the print edition of the journal. All supporting information must be referred to in the manuscript, and labelled Table S1, Table S2, Figure S1, Video S1 etc. Please do not include supporting information within the main manuscript file, but upload as separate file(s). Videos will be included as supporting information. For further instructions, click here.

Writing style and terminology

Manuscripts should be written in clear concise English. 'Fetus' and 'fetal' should be spelt without 'o', and 'ise' spellings are preferred to 'ize' spellings. Numbers one to ten should be spelled out; for more than ten people, objects, days, months, etc., use Arabic numerals. 'Women' is generally preferred to 'patients' when reporting on obstetrics. 'Termination of pregnancy' is preferred to 'therapeutic abortion' and 'miscarriage' is preferred to 'spontaneous abortion'. Authors should always use the generic names of drugs unless the proprietary name is directly relevant. Any specialised equipment, chemical or pharmaceutical product cited in the text must be accompanied by the name, city and country of its manufacturer. Please refer to this paper for terminology of lower urinary tract function: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nau.10052/pdf and this paper for early pregnancy events  http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/20/11/3008.full.pdf.

Layout of manuscripts

All manuscripts should be double-spaced in an A4-sized document. The manuscript text must be arranged consecutively in the following sequence for main research articles, surgical techniques, short communications and systematic reviews: 1. Title Page; 2. Abstract (if required); 3.Main Body of Text; 4. Acknowledgements; 5. Disclosure of Interests; 6. Contribution to Authorship; 7. Details of ethics approval; 8. Funding; 9. Reference List and 10. Table/Figure caption List.

1. Title page
The title page should include the following information:
• full title of the paper (The title should include the methodology at the end of the title after a colon e.g. "Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in labour pain: a systematic review")
• names of all co-authors, with their addresses, please include the department/division (Maximum 2 affiliations per author. If an author has moved to new institutions, the new institution should be used and it should be clear in the article where the research took place.)
• name and contact details (address, telephone number and email address) of the corresponding author responsible for checking proofs and distributing offprints
• a shortened running title of no more than 60 characters for continuation pages

2. Abstracts
A full structured abstract of no more than 250 words is required for main research articles, subdivided into the following sequential sections: Objective; Design; Setting; Population or Sample; Methods; Main Outcome Measures; Results; Conclusions; and Keywords. For Systematic Reviews, the abstract should be subdivided into the following sequential sections: Background; Objectives; Search Strategy; Selection Criteria; Data Collection and Analysis; Main Results; Conclusions; and Keywords.
Short communications, non-systematic reviews and surgical techniques require a 100-word 'block' style, non-structured abstract.

Help to improve the search engine ranking of you paper by optimizing your title and abstract, see this webpage for tips: http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/seo.asp

3. Main body of text
The text of main articles and short communications should be subdivided under the headings: Introduction; Methods; Results; Discussion and Conclusion. Case reports should be in sections under the headings: Case report and Discussion. Commentaries and Reviews should have headings appropriate to the article. Any abbreviations or acronyms used should be defined at first use in the main body of the article.

4. Acknowledgements
Include, for example, funding for OnlineOpen publication, or funding for writing or editorial assistance. Also include contributors who do not qualify as authors (see the Editorial policies for the criteria for authorship), with their contribution described.

5. Disclosure of Interests
These include relevant financial (for example patent ownership, stock ownership, consultancies, speaker's fees, shares), personal, political, intellectual (organizing education) or religious interests. Please note that a competing interest should not prevent someone from being listed as an author if they qualify for authorship. If there is doubt about whether interests are relevant or significant, it is prudent to disclose. To read more about conflicts of interests, click here.

6. Contribution to Authorship
A paragraph explaining each author’s contribution: their role in the conception, planning, carrying out, analysing and writing up of the work should be detailed. Authors’ initials should be used as appropriate.
Please note: To qualify for authorship, an individual must meet all the criteria set out in the journal’s editorial policies. All authors must accept responsibility for the paper as published.

7. Details of Ethics Approval
Any reports of studies or trials involving human or animal subjects, or medical records should contain a statement, in this Details of Ethics Approval section, that the procedures of the study received ethics approval from the relevant regional or institutional ethics committee responsible for human experimentation or complied with regulations governing experimentation using animals. The name of the ethics committee/IRB, date of approval and reference number must be included in this section. If there was no ethics committee, institutional review board or similar available locally, please refer to the BJOG Editorial Policies. For authors based in the UK, you might find this National Research Ethics Service flyer useful (please refer to the table for the differences between audit/service evaluation and research).

8. Funding
Funding for any type of publication, for example by a commercial company, charity or government department, should be stated here. This applies to all types of papers (including, for example, research papers, review papers, letters, editorials and commentaries).

9. References
BJOG follows the conventions of the Vancouver reference list system in which references are numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. References should be identified as superscripts within the text, table headings and figure captions. Information from submitted manuscripts, which have not yet been accepted, should be cited as unpublished observations. As a guideline for the citation style of the varied types of sources, contributors should consult the Uniform Requirement for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. An article with up to six authors should include all authors. If an article has more than six authors, only the first six need be given, followed by 'et al'.

We recommend the use of a tool such as Endnote or Reference Manager for reference management and formatting.
EndNote: http://www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp
Reference Manager: http://www.refman.com/support/rmstyles.asp

10. Table/Figure Caption List
Digital artwork files for reproduction should preferably be high quality, low compression JPEG, TIFF or EPS, but we may be able to use other formats (see click here for the graphics resource for authors. Please note: BJOG cannot accept .zip files). BJOG publishes figures in colour.

11. Word Count
The word count for an article does not include the abstract, references, tables or figures.

Study design and statistics

The design of investigations, methods of analysis and the source of data should be described in sufficient detail to permit the study to be repeated by others, and must include specification of all statistical methods. Measurements should be expressed in SI units with the exception of haemoglobin (g/dL) and blood pressure (mmHg). If human participants were involved, manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and appropriate informed consent of each. If experimental animals were used, the materials and methods (experimental procedures) section must clearly indicate that appropriate measures were taken to minimize pain or discomfort, and details of animal care should be provided.

Good reporting guidelines

For a better understanding of the reporting guidelines, please refer to the EQUATOR Network website: http://www.equator-network.org/ the resource centre for good research reporting. Any paper reporting the results of a questionnaire survey should include a copy of the questionnaire used, together with the manuscript. The reporting guidelines which are valuable for desiging your, include:

CONSORT statement, checklist and flow diagram for RCTs
PRISMA statement, checklist and flow diagram for systematic reviews and meta-analyses
MOOSE checklist is required for meta-analysis of observational studies 
STARD flow diagram and checklist are required for evaluations of diagnostic tests (diagnostic accuracy studies)
STROBE observational studies in epidemiology (cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies)
STREGA genetic association studies
TREND statement and check list for nonrandomized controlled trials.
COREQ statement and check list for qualitative research (focus groups and interviews)
SQUIRE check list for quality improvement studies
REMARK check list for tumour marker prognostic studies
ORION infection control intervention studies
STRICTA controlled trials of acupuncture
ORION infection control intervention studies
RedHot homeopathic treatments.

Types of articles

Commentaries
Commentaries on subjects of current interest or controversy are welcome. They should be no more than 1800 words with 10–12 references. A ‘Disclosure of interests’ section should be included after the main body of text and before the references.

Mini Commentaries

Mini Commentaries are by invitation only, usually written by an editor or referee. They will relate specifically to a single paper, usually no more than 500 words, with integral (i.e. appearing where mentioned in the text) and truncated references (include the first author 'et al', Journal Name, year of publication, volume number and pages numbers) . There should be no separate reference list. A ‘Disclosure of interests’ section should be included at the end. Mini commentaries are attached to the article to which they refer, and therefore do not appear separately in indexing services, such as PubMed.

Short communications

Short communications (2000-3000 words) are usually reports of smaller studies and are only permitted one table or one illustration and should have no more than six references. A block abstract of no more than 100 words should be included.

Surgical techniques

Surgical techniques are descriptions of new or innovative techniques and allow authors more scope to illustrate their work: ten or more illustrations may be allowed, at the Editor's discretion, accompanied by informative text of up to 1800 words. A block abstract of no more than 100 words should be included.

Case Reports

We do not publish case reports unless they highlight important innovations with wide applicability, or previously unpublished complications of new techniques or medications. Over the last year 98% of case reports were rejected. Case reports do not require an abstract and should be no more than 1800 words. Only one table or illustration is permitted. Authors must confirm in their manuscript that they have obtained the written permission of those whose 'case' is being presented. You may wish to use this form to gain consent for publication: consent form. Please DO NOT submit this form to BJOG.

Main research article

A main article of between 4000 and 5000 words may present the outcome of a large trial, case control, observational or retrospective study; these must have a full structured abstract (see above).

Randomised controlled trials (RCT)

Randomised controlled trials require (a) a copy of the ethics approval (or an explanation as to why ethics approval was not received/evidence that it was not required), (b) a completed CONSORT flowchart (submitted as Figure 1) and CONSORT checklist (for Editor/Reviewer reference only) (c) a copy of the original protocol upon which the trial was based. Additionally, the clinical trial registration number should be included along with the name of the trial at the end of the abstract. Clinical trials should be registered in free to access, public clinical trial registries (for example,: www.actr.org.au, www.clinicaltrials.gov (free), www.ISRCTN.org, www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index/htm, www.trialregister.nl or one of the WHO primary registries:http://www.who.int/ictrp/network/primary/en/index.html) before the first patient is recruited. These trial registries will all require the 20 Minimal Registration Data set of 20 items.

Trial registration: Studies that commenced before 1st July 2005 - all randomised trials must have been registered, but registration can be retrospective (i.e. registration can be done after the trial has been completed).

From 1st July 2005 – all randomised phase III trials (trials that compare new treatments with the best currently available treatment (the standard treatment) started after this date must have been registered prospectively (i.e. before or at commencement). Prospective registration is not required for Phase I trials (no more than 50 participants, often called 'pilot studies') or phase II trials (randomised but no more than 100 participants). However, trials should still be registered retrospectively.

From 1st July 2008 - any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes must have been registered prospectively (includes phase I and phase II trials and non-randomised studies of interventions).

Systematic review

A PRISMA (formerly QUOROM) statement and checklist are required for systematic reviews. Systematic reviews are welcome. They should be critical assessments of current evidence covering a broad range of topics of concern to those working in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology. Systematic reviews should be 4000-5000 words (abstracts to be structured as above).
N.B. For advice on writing systematic reviews consult: The Cochrane Reviewers' Handbook

Letters to the Editor

We are pleased to publish letters relating to papers published recently in BJOG (we do not publish research letters or stand-alone comments not referring to papers in BJOG). Letters should be no more than 500 words, contain no more than four references and must be in a separate file to the covering letter. The letter must include the names of the persons who wish to be published signatories, and their affiliations. Please include a title for the letter, which will usually contain the title of the paper about which a comment is made. Criteria for acceptance include timeliness in relation to the topic/published paper, the significance of the points made, and whether the letter is well written.

Appeals

The purpose of the appeal procedure is to allow the editor in chief or his deputy to assess the appropriateness of the editorial handling of the paper. It is not intended to trigger a review of the opinions of the referees or editors, as it would be inappropriate for a single individual (i.e. the editor-in-chief or their deputy) to overturn the majority view of referees and consulted editors.

Post acceptance issues

Copyright licensing

Copyright licensing is a condition of publication and papers will not be published unless an Exclusive Licence Form is received. Where OnlineOpen is required please follow the link below in the OnlineOpen section to complete the payment form. A link to the forms will be e-mailed to you if your manuscript is accepted for publication. The Exclusive Licence to Publish Form must be returned to the Production Editor: Lorna Faith, Blackwell Publishing, 101 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 3ES. For copyright FAQs, please click here.

OnlineOpen (for full information, click here)

OnlineOpen is available to authors of articles who wish to make their article available to non-subscribers on publication, or whose funding agency requires grantees to archive the final version of their article. With OnlineOpen, the author, the author's funding agency, or the author's institution pays a fee to ensure that the article is made available to non-subscribers upon publication via Wiley Online Library, as well as deposited in the funding agency's preferred archive. NIH Mandate and other Funders' Requirements

Any authors wishing to send their paper OnlineOpen will be required to complete the payment form available from our website at: http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-406241.html (Please note this is ONLY required if you choose the OnlineOpen option.)

Prior to acceptance there is no requirement to inform the Editorial Office that you intend to publish your paper OnlineOpen. All OnlineOpen articles are treated in the same way as any other article. They go through the journal's standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit.

Proofs

The medical editors reserve the right to edit a manuscript for grammar, house style, scientific and statistical clarity, and overall length, while maintaining the scientific accuracy of the report. Authors may be asked to incorporate editorial amendments of spelling, grammar, house style and to check minor inconsistencies in the text or reference list, together with scientific and/or statistical corrections before returning a revised manuscript for final approval by the Editor; failure to make either scientific/statistical or editorial amendments could result in delayed acceptance and publication. The corresponding author will receive an email alert containing a link to a web site. A working email address must therefore be provided for the corresponding author. The proof can be downloaded as a PDF (portable document format) file from this site. Acrobat Reader will be required in order to read this file. This software can be downloaded (free of charge) from the following web site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html This will enable the file to be opened, read on screen and printed out in order for any corrections to be added. Further instructions will be sent with the proof. To avoid delays of publication proofs should be checked immediately and returned by fax or by express post to the address indicated on the proofs. (Do not send proofs to the BJOG editorial office). Telephone corrections will not be accepted. Authors are advised that they are responsible for proofreading of the text, references, tables and figures for absolute accuracy. New material cannot be accepted at this stage and substantial rewriting of paragraphs may not be permitted; should authors insist in doing so, the costs of doing so will be charged to the author and the journal will not be responsible for typesetting errors arising from these changes.

Offprints

Free access to the final PDF offprint of your article will be available via author services only. Please therefore sign up for author services if you would like to access your article PDF offprint and enjoy the many other benefits the service offers.

Errata/Corrigenda

Authors should advise the publisher (BJOG@wiley.com) of corrections, apologies and retractions to the publisher who will publish them as the next available opportunity. The Editor in Chief may by consulted as appropriate.

Early  View

Early View articles are complete full-text articles published online in advance of their publication in a printed issue. Articles are therefore available as soon as they are ready, rather than having to wait for the next scheduled print issue. Early View articles are complete and final. They have been fully reviewed, revised and edited for publication, and the authors' final corrections have been incorporated. Because they are in final form, no changes can be made after online publication. They are given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which allows the article to be cited and tracked. After publication, the DOI remains valid and can continue to be used to cite and access the article.

Author services

NEW: Online production tracking is now available for your article through Wiley-Blackwell Author Services.
Author Services enables authors to track their article - once it has been accepted - through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of production so they don't need to contact the production editor to check on progress. To track your accepted manuscript, please click here.

Visit the Author Services area for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.

Pre-acceptance English language editing service: click here

Author material archive policy: Please note that unless specifically requested, Blackwell Publishing will dispose of all hardcopy or electronic material submitted two months after publication. If you require the return of any material submitted, please inform the editorial office of production editor as soon as possible if you have not already done so.
Disclaimer: The Publisher, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and Editors cannot be held responsible for errors or any consequences arising from the use of information contained in this journal; the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Publisher, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Editors, neither does the publication of advertisements constitute any endorsement by the Publisher, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Editors of the products advertised.

The standards for the editorial process are in accordance with the Committee on Publications Ethics Code of Conduct.

References

The requirements for preparation of manuscripts submitted to BJOG are in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: http://www.icmje.org/manuscript_1prepare.html/, please see the sections 'General Considerations Related to References' and 'Reference Style and Format' .

Resources

BJOG Author Brochure PDF
We have released a new version of the BJOG Author Brochure (2009) to provide authors with useful tips and links and to explain the BJOG peer review process. A list of the Scientific Editors and their specialities is also included. An understanding of publication ethics is important for all authors writing and submitting a paper, so this brochure makes both an interesting read and a useful reference.

The Library of Health Research Reporting
This page is regularly updated and includes the following resources:

  • Reporting guidelines
  • Guidance on scientific writing
  • Guidance developed by editorial groups
  • Research ethics, publication ethics and good practice guidelines
  • Examples of editorials introducing reporting guidelines
  • Examples of good research reporting
  • Examples of guidelines for peer reviewers
  • Useful and interesting presentations

EQUATOR Network resource for authors
This page can help you with:

  • Planning and conducting your research
  • Writing up your research
  • Ethical guidelines and considerations

     



This journal is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

Search the Site

Search