Submissions

Author Guidelines

Music and Medicine is an international journal that offers an integrative forum for clinical practice and research of applied music in medical settings and allied institutions. 

The Editors seek empirical research studies, clinical case reports, and applied models explicating theory, development, and practice across the health, behavioral, and neurosciences. 

Music and Medicine emphasizes research practices that integrate music, music psychology, music cognition, music neurology, music therapy, and infant and early child development into medical practice and knowledge. The journal addresses research and clinical practices related to music medicine and music psychotherapy and wellness practices inclusive of the health of musicians. Methodology will favor quantitative, qualitative and mixed method research trials.

Articles from a wide variety of perspectives including academic and practice forums are featured. Medical music perspectives from the neurosciences, clinical and integrative medicine, oncology, music therapy, psychology, infant stimulation, pain and palliative medicine, spiritual care, early intervention, nursing research, health research, and social work will be prominent.

Topics appropriate for the journal include, but are not limited to: Analgesia and Music Sedation; Brain Music Approaches; Cancer Care: Active and Receptive Music Approaches; Cardiology and Rhythm; Clinical Improvisation in Health and Disease; Dementia, Stroke and Music Memory; Environmental ICU Music; Infant Stimulation; Integrative Music Medicine; Medical Conditions and Treatment of Musicians; Medical Music Psychotherapy; Mood Disorders and Music Psychology; Music and Culture in Medicine; Music Health and Well Being; Music in Transition: NICU, Hospice to End of Life; Music in Surgery: Pre-op to post-op; Music in Traumatic Response and Injury; Neurologic Music Approaches; Pain and Palliative Medical Music Strategies; Psychosocial Music Interventions; Respiratory Music Advances: Asthma, CF, COPD; Song, Sound, and Resonance in Mind-Body Medicine; Stress Response and Music Relaxation; Vibration and Toning in Medicine.

Types of articles

Music and Medicine accepts the following types of contributions

• Full-Length Article; a research report (maximum of 4000 words including references, 120 references), with the following article structure: Introduction, Material and methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions.

• Brief Report/Clinical Reports; (maximum of 2000 words including references, 20 references), no specified article structure.

• Systematic Reviews/Meta-Analysis; (maximum of 6000 words, 200 references), with the following article structure: Objectives; Methods (Data sources); Results; Implications and Conclusions

• Letter to the Editor/Comment; (maximum of 1000 words, 20 references). A comment addresses a work previously published in Music and Medicine. No article structure. Letters to the editor and comments are not subjected to blind peer-review.

• Book Reviews (maximum of 1000 words)

Manuscript preparation

Each submission should consist of a title page and a main document file. These are two separate files. The title page should include: (i) manuscript title and all author names, degrees, affiliations, mailing addresses, and e-mail addresses for correspondence, (ii) a short title (running head), (iii) a onesentence biographical statement for each author, listing credentials and one or multiple places of affiliation, (iv) grant or financial support information and/or a conflict of interest statement as well as (v) any acknowledgments. This should not be included in the main paper document.

The main document file should be single-spaced, use a 12-point font; employ italics, rather than underlining; include tables, figures, notes, and references. Every effort should be made by the author to see that the main document file contains no clues as to the author's identity.

On the first page should be the title, a nonstructured abstract (maximum 200 words), and 4-5 keywords.

In-text reference citations should be identified by numbers in square brackets in order of appearance. {See examples below}

A complete, numbered listing of references should be provided at the end of the article. Reference listings should be in sequence in the order they are cited in the text. Journal names should be abbreviated as specified by the National Library of Medicine. References should not include any unpublished observations or personal communications.

All authors must be listed in the references; the use of et al is not permitted. Journal abbreviations should conform to the style used in Index Medicus, National Library of Medicine. Unpublished data, personal communications, and abstracts that cannot be retrieved by readers (e.g., some meeting abstracts), and other inaccessible materials should be listed within the article text. Unpublished materials may be cited parenthetically within the text, noting the main author and the year in which the research was conducted. For manuscripts containing citations that are in press, authors must have these available to reviewers/ editors, should they be requested. If all or part of this research was presented in Abstract form at a IAMM conference, authors should make a notation indicating this at the end of the article’s Introduction and include the citation in the list of References, citing abstracts published in Music and Medicine’s Special Issue. For information on formatting a specific Abstract reference, contact the Editorial Office at mmdmanaging@iammonline.com

 
Citation in text

Authors should ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list and vice versa. The abstract may not contain references. Unpublished results and personal communications are not permitted in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text as "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication." For unpublished study results, include the main author’s name and the year during which the research was conducted. ‘In-press’ references are permitted for initial submission and during the review process only. Revised manuscripts accepted for publication by Music and Medicine may not include in-press or unpublished materials in the references section; these materials may be cited within the text parenthetically as noted above.

Reference links

Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus, CrossRef and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged. A DOI creates a permanent link to any electronic article. The format of such citations should be in the same style as all other references in the submission.

Web references

As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be included. Web references should included in the reference list.

Data references

Music and Medicine encourages authors to cite underlying or relevant datasets in the manuscript by citing them within the text and including a data reference within the Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so it can be properly identifed as a data reference. The dataset identifier will not appear in your published article.

See sample formats below.

Journal article, 6 authors or less: 1. Armstrong DD. Rett syndrome neuropathology review 2000. Brain Dev. 2000; 19: 79-85. OR 2. Schoni MH, Casaulta-Aebischer C, Martinet LV, Kim S, Lee TJ, Leem J. Nutrition and lung function in cystic fibrosis patients: A brief review. Clin Nutr. 2001: 23(1): S72-S76.

Journal article, more than 6 authors (list first 3 authors + “et al.”): 1. Crews DW, Gartska WR, Meyer B, et al. The physiology of the garter snake: Analysis and updates.Sci Am. 1980;245:158- 159.

Journal article published online (hyperlink or DOI): 1. Blackburn TA. Updating autologous chondrocyte implantation knee rehabilitation. Nature. 2007;235:430-433. Available at: http://provide-full-link.com. Accessed January 7, 2008. OR 2. Harrison CL, Schmidt PQ, Jones JD. Aspirin compared with acetaminophen for relief of headache [published online March 21, 2008]. J Curr Clin. doi:10.1038.nm10244.

Book: 1. Voet D, Voet JG. The Science of Biochemistry. 3rd ed. New York, NY: J Wiley; 1990.

Chapter in a book: 1. Kuret JA, Murad F. Adenohypophyseal hormones. In: Gilman AG, Taylor P, eds. The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. 8th ed. Orlando, FL: Grune & Stratton; 1976:1334-1360.

Paper presented at a conference: 1. Eisenberg J. Market forces and physician workforce reform: Why they may not work. Paper presented at: Annual Meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges; October 28, 1995; Washington, DC.

Article published online: 1. Blackburn TA. Updating autologous chondrocyte implantation knee rehabilitation. Nature. 2007;235:430-433. Available at: http://provide-full-link.com. Accessed January 7, 2008. OR 2. Harrison CL, Schmidt PQ, Jones JD. Aspirin compared with acetaminophen for relief of headache [published online March 21, 2008]. J Curr Clin. doi:10.1038.nm10244.

Web site: 1. FDA resources page. Food and Drug Administration Web site. Available at: http://provide-full-link.com. Accessed June 23, 2000.

Book Review Guidelines

Include author/s, editor(s) first and last name(s), title of book & ISBN, year and place of publication, publisher & number of pages and the price (web-based, paperback or hard cover). The book/media/music/web review should be no longer than 1000 words, providing readers with an account overview of the work in an informative way. The opinion of the reviewer is important and should be an informed voice inclusive of a critical discussion related to the work itself as well as issues or former writings relevant to the work's intention. The review should follow the AMA Style Guidelines. The review should address Music and Medicine’s readership to include the purpose and intended audience of the work as well as the background (training & history) of the author, what the work confirms and/or to what is already known on the topic, the intentions and goals objectives of the work and if they are achieved with clarity. It might be useful to compare the work with other works of a similar genre, and to speculate on reasons of why this work was developed. How might the next book written on the topic include missed points of the current work? What themes were most highlighted and how did the discussions provided build on ideas known in the literature already. Finally, why or why not would you recommend this work and what is the take away message? End the review with: First and last name & institutional affiliation of reviewer and a brief biographical note inclusive of the reviewer's credentials, place of work and interests is required.

Music Reporting Guidelines:

The 'music' of the article should be described in full detail. Please refer to Reporting Guidelines for Music-based Interventions Checklist available.  This includes but is not limited to defining aspects of the music in terms of whether it was: live or recorded, pre-composed or improvised, played or sung, and the researchers' decision-making processes related to the music selected. Include music titles, the composer and edition/version/sound track and year it was recorded. If live music is used, describe the name and model of the musical instruments used and how the music was played (modality, style, dynamic, timbre etc) solo or ensemble. Readers should understand how the music intervention was set up: patient preferred recording brought into therapy or research, or spontaneous favorite song (known) or co-created in the moment. Music medicine intervention descriptions should provide details about how and why the music was selected and how it was incorporated into treatment interventions. Appendices and links in the text to audio recordings of music are encouraged; consent/permission is required.

Research Reporting Guidelines

Please refer to the linked webpages and adhere to these guidelines when submitting.

• Randomized controlled trials , please refer to  Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials ( CONSORT ). Checklist available. 
• Systematic reviews,  meta-analyses, please and integrative reviews refer to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Checklist available. 
• Scoping reviews, please refer to the PRISMA  Checklist available.
• Case study, please refer to the Case Report Guidelines (CARE). Checklist available. 
• Qualitative Designs, please refer to The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research: A Synthesis of Recommendations (SRQR) and/or  Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ)

Artwork and Tables

Artwork includes charts and graphs, maps, photographs, figures, and line art. Images should be clear and neat, and they should be submitted in the original format in which they were created (JPG, TIFF, or EPS; Microsoft Application Files are acceptable for line art). Any scanned images should be set at 1200 dpi for line art and 300 dpi for color or grayscale. There is no fee for color images. Illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end and are numbered in the order they appear in text. Each table and figure submitted must be cited within the article. Tables should present supporting data in a clear and unambiguous manner.

Permissions and Releases

Material taken directly from a copyrighted source should be clearly identified, and the copyright holder’s written permission to reproduce it must be submitted in a separate file. Note: Obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material is the author's responsibility, as is payment of any fees the copyright holder may request. Identifiable audio and visual recordings and images of people should be accompanied by a signed release granting permission for their likeness to be reproduced in an article. (In children's cases, the release form must be signed by a parent or guardian.)

Conflict of Interest

It is the author’s responsibility to disclose any potential conflict of interest regarding the manuscript. Additionally, any identifying information regarding a patient should be removed from the manuscript, or informed consent from the patient will be required.

Online Submission

Manuscripts are submitted thought the journal website submission system (mmd.iammonline.com). Authors need to indicate the type of submission and complete the submission checklist.

Audio and Video Material

If you article considered for publication in Music and Medicine includes audio or video material, please contact the production editor. We are able to handle all common file formats and will make sure that your material is available for our readers.