For Journal Authors

• Your rights - our responsibility

Authors receive a free PDF eprint of the published article, for non-commercial distribution.

Submission of the manuscript means that the authors automatically agree to assign exclusive copyright to Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) Press.

Articles published are protected by copyright, which covers translation rights and the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute all articles printed in the journal. No material published in the journal may be stored on microfilm or videocassettes or in electronic databases and the like, or reproduced photographically, without the prior written permission of RSM Press.

Decisions on publication are based on the opinions of at least two reviewers (whose names will not be revealed to authors). Manuscripts are subject to editorial revision. The right is reserved to introduce such changes as may be necessary to make contributions conform to editorial standards.

• Find the journal you want to submit to www.rsmpress.com/journals
• Let your peers know about your work

As an author, you'll know what valuable content the journal publishes. To ensure that your colleagues have access to this important material, just fill out the recommendation form and forward to your librarian.

Our policy on depositing articles in repositories

A growing number of biomedical funding bodies now stipulate that articles arising from research they have funded must be deposited in a public repository.

Public repositories

Authors publishing with RSM Press can comply with their funding body's policy through our optional open access service RSM Open. It allows authors to have their article fully open access in exchange for payment of a basic fee ('article processing charge').

RSM Open complies with all funding body mandates, for example: Wellcome Trust, UK Medical Research Council, Arthritis Research Campaign, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Chief Scientist Office, British Heart Foundation, Department of Health, HHMI, and Cancer Research UK.

For details of our option open access service RSM Open, please read 'Open Access' section below.

Central and institutional repositories

Subject to the conditions below, Royal Society of Medicine Press are willing for authors of accepted and published manuscripts to deposit copies of their articles into institutional repositories.

Conditions

Institutional repositories: Authors may upload both pre-prints and post-prints (as defined below) to their institution's repository immediately after online publication.

Central repositories: Authors of papers that have not entered into the 'RSM Open' programme may upload both pre-prints and post-prints (as defined below) to a central repository (e.g. PubMed Central) twelve months after online publication.

Acknowledgements: When depositing a manuscript in any repository, authors should include the relevant version of the paragraph below. This will guarantee that the definitive version is readily available to those accessing the article from a repository, and means that the article is more likely to be cited correctly.

Neither the publisher-produced PDF proof nor the published version of the article may be deposited.

Pre-print
[Full article citation, including DOI]
This is the original draft, prior to peer-review, of a manuscript published in [insert journal name]. The definitive version, detailed above, is available online at www.rsmpress.com.

Post-print
[Full article citation, including DOI]
This is the final draft, after peer-review, of a manuscript published in RSM journals: www.rsmpress.com.

If you would like further information please contact us.

Definitions

Pre-print
A pre-print is the original author-produced draft of an article as submitted for consideration for publication, and before any modifications arising from peer-review.

Post-print
A post-print is the final author-produced draft of an article as accepted for publication, including modifications based on referees' suggestions. A post-print has not yet undergone copyediting, typesetting or proof correction.

Open Access

RSM Press offers authors of accepted papers the choice to make the final published version of their paper freely available online immediately upon publication, and to post to repositories, for a one-off fee of US$3000.

FAQs about Open Access

How will readers know which articles are freely available?

Articles will be clearly marked with the text 'OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE' and the RSM Open icon: – this will be used to identify open access articles in the journal's online Table of Contents.

When will authors be given the choice to pay the open access fee?

Upon submission authors have the option of ticking a check box to indicate their intention to take up this offer and pay the one-off fee to make their paper open access. For purposes of transparency, RSM Press asks that authors state the sources of funding for both their research and for any Open Access fees when they submit their manuscript. If appropriate, the information will be added to the Acknowledgement section of the article.

Upon acceptance for publication the author will duly receive a payment form attached to their article proof. Authors will need to complete the payment form and return this alongside any corrections to the Production Editor in the normal manner.

The open access fee will be administered by the publisher, Royal Society of Medicine Press (RSM Press), and payment can be made either via a credit card or by requesting an invoice to be raised. If an institution is willing to pay on the author's behalf, then the author can request the invoice to be sent to the institution.

Please note that the optional open access fees are in addition to any colour charges that might apply.

Will RSM Press be reviewing their subscription prices?

The amount of open access content in each journal will be reviewed annually. Should the proportion of open access papers become significant, future online subscription prices may be reduced.

Who retains copyright of the open access articles?

Authors who have chosen to participate in RSM Open will have their content licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License. This permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license. View a copy of this license.

Which funding bodies require authors to sign up with this open access?

RSM Open complies with all funding body mandates, for example: Wellcome Trust, UK Medical Research Council, Arthritis Research Campaign, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Chief Scientist Office, British Heart Foundation, Department of Health, HHMI, and Cancer Research UK.

Authors selecting the RSM Open option have no embargo restriction on posting the pre-print (pre-refereeing) or post-print (post-refereeing) of the published article to any institutional or subject repository.

If you would like further information please contact us.