BJGP editorial process & policies

Articles are considered on the basis of quality and originality alone. The professional background of the authors (and whether or not they are RCGP Members) is of no importance. Priority is given to research articles asking questions of direct relevance to patient care.

BJGP is published by RCGP, based in the UK, but has complete editorial independence. Opinions expressed in BJGP should not be taken to represent the policy of RCGP unless specifically stated.

 

Authorship

The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This will be all those who have made a substantial contribution to the concept and design, conduct, analysis, or writing up of a study. Normally we would not expect to list more than 12 authors.

Authors of research articles will be required to provide details of their individual contributions to the work on submission of the revised version of the article (following peer review). The data will not be published.

Contributions are expected to fall into at least two of the following categories:

  • conceiving and designing the study
  • obtaining funding and/or ethical approval
  • collecting the data
  • analysing the data
  • interpreting the data
  • writing the report (wholly or in part)
  • revising the report

Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content relevant to their own contribution. We do not require all authors to sign the initial letter accompanying submission but all authors must sign the declaration form sent with the Editor’s response at the conclusion of peer review.

In addition, at least one author should be designated as the guarantor for the integrity of the data on which the article is based. This will normally be the author for correspondence.

Submission of articles

Please address a covering letter to the Editor, briefly explaining why your submission is likely to be of interest to the BJGP and of importance to its readership. This is an opportunity to highlight the novelty and likely impact of your research. If there has been previous discussion or email correspondence about the submission please remind the Editor about this.

To help streamline submissions to BJGP we’ve adopted a format-light submission process for Research articles. This means that when initially submitting your Research to us, you no longer need to format your article to our full requirements.

We understand that detailed re-formatting for different journals is a time-consuming process that is potentially significant burden on authors. It is important that manuscripts have a basic structure that ensures the editors and peer reviewers can evaluate them accurately. We are prepared to be flexible on this, but we do reserve the right to ask for revisions if, in the editors’ opinion, the manuscript is presented in such a way to significantly hamper assessment.  

For further information on format-light submissions see Writing for BJGP: research.

For submissions to other sections of BJGP, it is not essential that the first submission conform to the instructions in every particular. However, where there are obvious major breaches (for instance, if your article is much longer than recommended) it may be rejected without being sent out for peer review.

Normally, we only insist on strict adherence to submission guidelines in revised files. The Editor's letter will provide instructions to help you achieve this.

Feedback on your submission

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to comment on anything that has not been formally submitted, unless it concerns an Editorial or a Clinical Practice article.

Authors considering submitting an editorial should either contact the Editor via the BJGP office and discuss it, or email an outline to journal@rcgp.org.uk so that we can advise you whether it is likely to be welcomed, and whether someone else is already working on that topic

Processing submitted articles

All articles are screened by the Editor. Any that are unlikely to be accepted, whatever the result of peer review, are rejected at this stage. The grounds for rejection at this stage are usually either:

  • a major flaw in the design
  • the work falls outside the BJGP remit

Since the grounds for rejection are so clear, it is not possible to appeal against a decision at this stage. Each year the BJGP Editorial Board reviews a sample of screening decisions to ensure that this policy is being followed consistently.

Plagiarism

As a member of CrossRef, BJGP uses Similarity Check, a plagiarism detection tool, which enables us to screen articles on submission, to ensure that all content is original.

Preprints

A preprint is a scholarly paper that is posted on a public server prior to formal peer review and BJGP will consider for review articles that have been made previously available as preprints on non-commercial servers, such as medRxiv. We have partnered with medRxiv to facilitate direct transfer from medRxiv to BJGP (M2J). This can save authors time as their manuscript files and metadata are transmitted directly from medRxiv.

BJGP does not consider preprints in dedicated preprint repositories to be prior publication. BJGP also places no restrictions on the licence chosen when posting a preprint, however authors must retain copyright of their work when posting to a preprint server

On submission to BJGP, authors should disclose that a version of the paper has been deposited in a preprint server and must include a link or DOI to the preprint.

Following publication of the article in BJGP we request that authors to update their preprint with a link to the version of record on BJGP and include the new article DOI.

Preprints should not be used for clinical decision making or reporting of research to a lay audience without indicating that it is preliminary research that has not been peer-reviewed.

Editorial standards

You will be sent a formal acknowledgement of your initial submission whether or not the article is likely to be accepted for publication.

Most articles require some form of revision, and we ask you to submit the revised version within 2 months of receiving the Editor’s letter. We aim to respond to revised submissions within 2 weeks.

Peer review

BJGP operates an open peer review system, so the identities of the authors and reviewers are known to each other. Articles are assessed according to clearly-defined criteria. We advise authors to view these criteria before submitting an article.

We aim to have reviewers’ comments back in the BJGP journal office within 2 weeks of receipt of the article, and to give authors an initial decision about acceptance within a further 2 weeks.

Transfers to BJGP Open

We now have the facility to automatically transfer articles to BJGP Open that we are unable to accept in BJGP. During the submission process we will request that you confirm whether you are happy for your manuscript to be transferred to BJGP Open if it is rejected at any point during the submission or peer review process. If you agree, all versions of the article and its supporting files, including the peer reviews, will be transferred for consideration in BJGP Open if appropriate, and you will be notified by email if the transfer has occurred.

The standard peer review and decision-making process will then follow in BJGP Open. The article processing charge for publication in BJGP Open is £1000 (plus VAT where applicable).

Appeal

If your article has been rejected and you feel that a mistake has been made, you can appeal. Write to the Editor within 2 months of receiving the Editor’s decision, setting out where you think the reviewers’ reviews or the Editor’s letter is incorrect.

At this stage, you must not make any revisions to take account of reviewers’ comments. The appeal process will go ahead if a reviewer or the Editor could have made a mistake with the technical aspects of a study, misinterpreted some aspect of the article, or if bias could have entered into the reviewers’ comments. The process is unlikely to be used where an article has been rejected on the basis of editorial policy.

If the Editor feels that there are grounds for challenging the original decision, the views of the Editorial Board will be sought and the article may be sent out to a new reviewer. The Editor will be guided by this reviewer’s report. Reviewers used in the appeal process will usually be members of the Editorial Board. Appeal reviewers will be sent a copy of the appeal letter and the previous reviews.

The final decision will be made with reference to the following criteria:

  • the article is new, innovative, representing a discovery
  • it is timely or interesting
  • it is methodologically sound
  • the quality of analysis and data presentation
  • the conclusions warranted
  • the quality of discussion, analysis, and writing; and
  • the importance and impact

Complaints

Please direct all complaints to the Editor or the Editorial Office at journal@rcgp.org.uk. All complaints will be considered in a timely manner and where appropriate, these will be referred to the BJGP Ethics Advisor. Where a complaint remains unresolved, the complainant can refer the matter to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Corrections & retractions

BJGP aims to maintain the highest possible scientific standards. Authors and readers should contact the Editorial Office with correction and retraction concerns. Articles will be updated and correction notices published at the next available opportunity. Where an article is seriously flawed a retraction will be considered. All cases submitted to the Editorial Office will be assessed on an individual basis, initially by the BJGP Editor and Ethics Advisor, and may be referred to the Editorial Board. All retracted articles will be clearly labelled as Retracted and a retraction notice published.

Author accepted manuscripts

BJGP now publishes an Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) ahead of the full publication of a Research article. The AAM is the final version of the manuscript accepted by the journal following changes made during peer review, but before typesetting, subediting, and correction. An AAM will have the same DOI as the final, fully published article, meaning that the article can be cited as soon as its AAM is posted online. If you do not want your article to be published first as an AAM, please notify the journal office by email.

Please ensure all author information is correct and up to date on the ScholarOne submission system. The order of authors on the submission form will be the order used in the AAM. Errors in the AAM cannot be corrected.

We require confirmation that the author has permission to include any third-party content in their manuscript.

If you are required to submit a revised version of your manuscript with tracked changes, you will also be asked to provide a ‘clean’ copy as a supplementary file not for review. If this is not provided, the tracked changes version will form the AAM. The author(s) retain(s) copyright and responsibility for the content of the AAM. AAMs are published under the CC BY 4.0 license.

Errors discovered and corrected during the subediting process may materially alter the content of the manuscript, and the latest published version (the Version of Record) should be used in preference to any preceding versions (such as the AAM).

Fast tracking

As a monthly journal, BJGP cannot usually respond to requests to ‘fast track’ articles. However, the Editor has discretion to move articles upwards in the queue if there are good reasons to do so. Authors must supply compelling arguments to accelerate their article in the covering letter to the Editor and mark the article ‘urgent’.

Publication of articles

All articles and letters are accepted subject to copy editing, which may be considerable. Proofs of articles are sent to authors who are asked to check them for errors and return them promptly.

However, the exact month of publication can be decided only when all the articles have been returned and collated with other sections of BJGP. We aim to publish all Research articles online first ahead of print publication.

Offprints are available on request. Contact us for details of availability and pricing.

Principal authors who are not RCGP Members will be sent a complimentary copy of the issue in which their article appears. To purchase additional copies, contact:

Turpin Distribution on +44 (0) 1767 60 4951 or at custserv@turpin-distribution.com

Copyright

Authors of articles assign copyright to BJGP when they return the proofs (see below for open access arrangements). With non-open access articles, authors may use minor parts (up to 15 per cent) of their own work after publication without seeking written permission, provided they acknowledge the original source. We would, however, be grateful for notice of when and where such material has been reproduced. Authors retain the right to post the accepted version of the article on a secure network (not accessible to the public) within their institution.

Authors may not reproduce substantial parts of their own material without written consent. However, requests to reproduce material are welcomed and consent is usually given. Individuals may photocopy articles for educational purposes without obtaining permission, up to a maximum of 25 copies in total over any period of time. You should seek permission to reproduce an article for any other purpose. See the Get Permissions link, on the right navigation, on each article page.

Open access publication

BJGP open access policy

We believe that it is important that research is freely available to ensure wide dissemination of findings. Open access not only allows free publication of publicly funded research to everyone, but also enables it to be shared and re-used with minimal restrictions. The BJGP operates an open access publication policy for research papers. All research papers published by BJGP are open access and this ensures compliance with Plan S requirements as well as the policies of the UK Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the US National Institutes of Health, and other funding bodies, including the UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) policy from 1 April 2022. For further information contact the editorial office.

Authors of open access articles retain copyright. Open access articles are published under a Creative Commons licence that allows reuse with attribution of the article. The default license type is CC BY 4.0. The articles are fully available on publication via the BJGP website and are also sent to PubMed Central, where they are also made publicly available.

Article processing charges

We request that authors pay an article processing charge (APC) to publish their research article open access. The APC for the BJGP has been set at £2000 (plus VAT where applicable) and refunds will not normally be issued. Payment for this transaction will be processed by PayPal. We do not store credit card details and do not we share financial details with 3rd parties.

Authors whose institutions in the UK and Republic of Ireland have taken up our new Read & Publish deal with Jisc will not need to pay an APC. 

This is a cost-neutral deal, agreed with librarians, and it provides unlimited access to all of our content and allows corresponding authors from that institution unlimited free open access publication for research articles in BJGP and BJGP Open. These agreements therefore support institutions and authors working to meet funding requirements and to make open access the default publishing choice.

APC waivers and discounts

We recognise that the move to open access is in a transition period and that not all researchers will have APCs available to them through research grants. It is unlikely that a waiver will be granted to authors from established academic or research centres in the developed world. 

We encourage UK and Republic of Ireland academics to discuss with their library the benefits of the Jisc Read & Publish deal given this allows for unlimited open access publishing with BJGP – as detailed above. 

We recognise that some authors do not have access to funding for APCs. We consider waivers to authors in exceptional circumstances. These would take into consideration any existing grants, the institutional situation, and whether part-payment may be an option. These applications are considered by the BJGP administrative team and not the editors at the BJGP. Waivers are considered on a case-by-case basis and may be granted in cases of financial need. At submission of the article the waiver request form should be completed by the corresponding author and emailed to the editorial office.

Low and middle income countries
The BJGP will offer waivers and discounts for papers when the corresponding author is based in a low-income country eligible for access to Research4Life. (Note: Papers with substantial collaboration from institutions in high-income economies may not be eligible in these cases.)

APCs and editorial decisions
The route to open access does not affect the Journal's usual peer review and editorial processes. 

Editorial decisions are not related to ability to pay APCs. We ask authors not to raise waiver requests with the editor and associate editors in the covering letter or in subsequent communications. All waiver applications should be made at the point of submission and the waiver request form emailed to the editorial office.

Other article types

We also offer open access publication for Editorials, Analysis, and Clinical Practice articles. This is optional and the choice can be made during the submission process. The APC for Editorials, Analysis, and Clinical Practice articles in BJGP has been set at £500 (plus VAT where applicable) and refunds will not normally be issued. Payment for this transaction will be processed by PayPal. We do not store credit card details and do not we share financial details with 3rd parties. These article types are not included in the Jisc Read & Publish deal, which is for Research only.

Contact BJGP

BJGP Journal Office
Royal College of General Practitioners
30 Euston Square, London NW1 2FB
Tel: 020 3188 7400 / Fax: 020 3188 7401
E-mail: journal@rcgp.org.uk

 

Intended for Healthcare Professionals