Author Guidelines
The Autoimmune Learning Network is a one-of-a-kind digital hub for information and education focused on care innovations for patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. The Autoimmune Learning Network functions as the online home to HMP’s trusted and award-winning publications in the space, including The Dermatologist, Rheumatology Consultant, and Gastroenterology Learning Network. Designed for a multidisciplinary audience in the fields of rheumatology, dermatology, gastroenterology, and immunology, the website offers clinical insights, peer-reviewed journal articles, interactive features, research and industry updates, accredited continuing educational programs, and live events.
The mission of the Autoimmune Learning Network is to help improve patient care through providing peer-reviewed and interactive content about key topics that clinicians encounter in clinical practice.
Types of Manuscripts
Feature articles. Manuscripts should be no more than 3500 words in length. The abstract should be approximately 100 words in length and should outline the main points of the manuscript. References should conform to the style set forth in the AMA Manual of Style and should appear as a list at the end of the manuscript with corresponding numeric annotations in text.
While photographs and other clinical images such as radiographs, electrocardiograms, and computed tomography images are not required for feature article submissions, their inclusion is strongly recommended, as is the inclusion of tables, figures, and/or other graphics.
Case reports. At approximately 500 words in length, case reports are succinct image-based vignettes of a particular condition. They should have instructional value and highlight the key points of the condition (eg, an unusual finding or a noteworthy treatment).
Case reports should include:
- The patient’s sex, age, and other relevant details
- Pertinent facts in the patient’s history
- The presenting signs and symptoms
- The diagnostic tests performed and their findings
- A discussion of the process of differential diagnosis
- The potential approaches to management, along with a description of which treatment was chosen for the patient and why others were excluded
- Prognosis and long-term follow-up
- The outcome of the patient’s case
Submitting a Manuscript
All manuscripts should be submitted in a Microsoft Word document via email to editors@autoimmunelearningnetwork.com.
All feature articles and case reports published on the Autoimmune Learning Network must be original. Although you may have written previously about the same subject, the manuscript submitted to the Autoimmune Learning Network should be substantially different.
A complete submission includes:
- Blinded manuscript
- Title page
- Completed author disclosure forms
- Photographs, radiographic images, and other graphics
- Patient or parent/guardian consent form (if applicable)
Blinded manuscript. Each submission undergoes double-blinded peer review. Do not include author’s names, affiliations, or contact information in the manuscript. Instead, include this information in a separate title page.
Title page. Include the mailing address, email address, and telephone number of the corresponding author, as well as the full names, credentials, and affiliations of each coauthor.
Author disclosure forms. Before a manuscript undergoes peer review, the editors must be sure that the authors have disclosed any potential financial or other conflicts of interest related to the manuscript’s contents. Each author must submit a completed disclosure form, and the lead author must submit a completed copyright transfer form, which can be submitted via email as a scanned PDF document or sent via fax.
Clinical images. Please submit clinical images and other graphics in separate JPG, TIFF, or PNG files of the highest resolution possible. All graphics should be numbered in sequence, and each should include legends (if necessary) and a caption.
If any materials included with the manuscript have originally been published elsewhere, please include written documentation that you have obtained permission from the copyright holder to republish or adapt these items.
Patient or parent/guardian consent form. If your submission includes photographs in which the patient might be identifiable, obtain written permission in a signed consent form from the patient (or, if the patient is a minor, the patient’s parent or guardian) and include a copy with your submission.
Peer review. All manuscript submissions undergo double-blinded peer review. All manuscripts are considered for publication with the understanding that they have been submitted to the Autoimmune Learning Network only and have not been published, submitted simultaneously, or accepted for publication elsewhere.
In general, the corresponding author will be notified of the peer-review panel’s decision to accept or reject the manuscript, or to request revision and resubmission, within 6 to 8 weeks of initial submission.
Publication of the Manuscript
Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, it will be added to the content schedule, and the corresponding author will be contacted. All manuscripts are edited in accordance with the AMA Manual of Style. Corresponding author will receive an edited manuscript that may or may not require further revision.
Contact Information
Autoimmune Learning Network
70 East Swedesford Rd., Suite 100
Malvern, PA 19355-1436
(800) 237-7285; fax (888) 686-0391
editors@autoimmunelearningnetwork.com
