Types of Articles

Types of Articles Considered:

Manuscripts reporting primary research are published as Research Communications. Editorials, Brief Reviews, Hypotheses, Viewpoints, and Letters to the Editor in response to content published in MPO are classified as secondary research.

Research Communications: These are usually completed studies that report results of investigation of an original research question that enhances our understanding of medical physiology and its applicability to clinical practice. The Methods section should be detailed enough to allow readers to reproduce the work.

Teaching / Learning Medical Physiology: Contributions to this section include reports that narrate how a novel idea was tested for its value in advancing teaching and learning of medical physiology.

Editorials are scholarly contributions that offer a balanced critique of an original research article. Usually, these are invited. Unsolicited contributions are welcome.

Brief Reviews summarize current understanding in an important field of research or practice and may be as long as 4000 words. A maximum of 40 references may be cited. Where there are conflicting interpretations of existing evidence, these must also be discussed. Authors of brief reviews would typically have published some primary research in the field they review but this is not necessary. If you have an idea for a brief review, please discuss with the editor before you prepare your submission to MPO.

Hypothesis papers will explicitly state and discuss an important hypothesis in the broad field of medical physiology; the hypothesis should be deducible from the current knowledge base in that particular field. The author(s) must propose methods for testing the hypothesis.

Point of View: We welcome your “Points of View” on issues that would be of interest to the readership. If appropriate, the editor may solicit a ‘Counterpoint’ to foster debate. Then, these contributions may be published together as a “debate”.

Debate: ‘Points’ as well as ‘Counterpoints’ are required; if you have an idea for a debate, please contact the editor.

Ask a Question: Quite often, we raise questions that we may not have an answer for. It is probably just a matter of asking that question to the right people and the answer will come from somewhere or at least we may know if nobody can answer our question. MPO will be happy to serve as a platform for fielding questions that are in the direction of the journal’s mission statement and scope. Please see this section of the journal for examples. The editor will review questions before posting them. The editor or a guest editor interested in working on that question will review responses.

Letter to the Editor: They are usually limited to 500 words and usually will be responses that contribute to discussing the methods or interpretation of data in a manuscript published in MPO. The authors of the manuscript to which the letter refers will be invited to reply. The editor reserves the right to publish a letter without a reply from the authors. In addition, letters may also address a topic of interest to the readership. If primary research data not previously published is reported, it will be peer reviewed and if accepted published as a research communication not a letter.

Others:

Book Reviews: Submissions for Book Reviews are welcome. Please contact the editor first.

Conference Announcements: These may be regarding meetings or conferences in which physiology or a related biomedical science is extensively discussed. If you have an announcement that you would like us to publish, please contact the editor.

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