Authors

The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry (JNNP) publishes original articles, short reports, editorials, commentaries and more, covering the whole field of clinical neurological practice, neurosurgery and neuropsychiatry. Emphasis is given to common disorders such as cerebrovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, peripheral neuropathy, epilepsy, and subarachnoid haemorrhage. Articles should be of direct relevance to clinical practise. Thus we do not generally publish research based on animal experiments nor studies of normal nervous system function. We do publish papers on cognitive neuropsychology if they are of clinical, as opposed to purely theoretical interest. Paediatric papers will be considered if of general interest and relevant to adult neurology. Novel mutations in known disease related genes are unlikely to be published unless they relate to a new phenotype or provide new pathophysiological information. JNNP publishes a small number of quality of life and health economic papers where these are of general interest, thus it is unlikely we would publish a health economic paper that was limited to only one health system or economy.
We aim to make an early decision of suitability for the journal with the result that around 50% of papers are rejected without going out to review following in house discussion. This decision would normally be made within a week of submission. Following review the decision to accept the paper for publication or to invite revision is made at a weekly editorial committee meeting. When a paper has been submitted from the Editor or Associate Editors’ departments, they have no role in the reviewing or decision making process. This also applies to any Associate Editors who are authors, in which instance the reviewing process is handled by the Editor in Chief. The Editor in Chief does not submit any articles to the JNNP.

Editorial policy

The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry adheres to the highest standards concerning its editorial policies on publication ethics, scientific misconduct, consent and peer review criteria. To view all BMJ Journal policies please refer to the BMJ Author Hub policies page.

Plan S compliance

The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry is a Plan S compliant Transformative Journal. Transformative Journals are one of the compliance routes offered by cOAlition S funders, such as Wellcome, WHO and UKRI. Find out more about Transformative Journals and Plan S compliance on our Author Hub.

Copyright and authors’ rights

Articles are published under an exclusive licence or non-exclusive licence for UK Crown employees or where BMJ has agreed CC BY applies. For US Federal Government officers or employees acting as part of their official duties, the terms are as stated in accordance with our licence terms. Authors or their employers retain copyright. Open access articles can be reused under the terms of the relevant Creative Commons licence to facilitate reuse of the content; please refer to the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry Author Licence for the applicable Creative Commons licences. More information on copyright and authors’ rights. When publishing in Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, authors choose between three licence types – exclusive licence granted to BMJ, CC-BY-NC and CC-BY (Creative Commons open access licences require payment of an article processing charge). As an author you may wish to post your article in an institutional or subject repository, or on a scientific social sharing network. You may also link your published article to your preprint (if applicable). What you can do with your article, without seeking permission, depends on the licence you have chosen and the version of your article. Please refer to the BMJ author self archiving and permissions policies page for more information.

Preprints

Preprints foster openness, accessibility and collaboration by allowing authors to make their findings immediately available to the research community and receive feedback on an article before it is submitted to a journal for formal publication. BMJ fully supports and encourages the archiving of preprints in any recognised, not-for-profit server such as medRxiv. BMJ does not consider the posting of an article in a dedicated preprint repository to be prior publication. Preprints are reports of work that have not been peer-reviewed; Preprints should therefore not be used to guide clinical practice, health-related behaviour or health policy. For more information, please refer to our Preprint policy page.

Peer review process

Articles submitted to Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry  are subject to peer review. In most instances we aim for two external opinions (and often additional statistical assessment) for reasons of fairness and science. The journal is not prepared to compromise on this stance. The journal operates single anonymised peer review whereby the names of the reviewers are hidden from the author; Manuscripts authored by a member of a journal’s editorial team are independently peer reviewed; an editor will have no input or influence on the peer review process or publication decision for their own article. For more information on what to expect during the peer review process please refer to BMJ Author Hub – the peer review process. BMJ requests that all reviewers adhere to a set of basic principles and standards during the peer-review process in research publication; these are based on the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. Please refer to our peer review terms and conditions policy page BMJ is committed to transparency. Every article we publish includes a description of its provenance (commissioned or not commissioned) and whether it was internally or externally peer reviewed. During the submission process, authors must not suggest reviewers who are current or recent colleagues of themselves or their co-authors. For more information about suggesting reviewers please visit our Author Hub. Plagiarism is the appropriation of the language, ideas or thoughts of another without crediting their true source and representation of them as one’s own original work. BMJ is a member of CrossCheck by CrossRef and iThenticate. iThenticate is a plagiarism screening service that verifies the originality of content submitted before publication. BMJ runs manuscripts through iThenticate during the peer review process. Authors, researchers and freelancers can also use iThenticate to screen their work before submission by visiting www.ithenticate.com.

Results

Authors should replace p values with estimates of effects or association, and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals unless the protocol or statistical analysis plan has specified methods to adjust for multiplicity of testing. A randomized or observational study should have a primary hypothesis for which a p value < 0.05 can be applied after adjustment for testing multiple endpoints. The analysis of all other endpoints should focus on estimates and 95% confidence intervals. The interpretation of these confidence intervals should avoid the language of definitive conclusions used to report statistically significant findings as assessed by formal hypothesis testing.

Article transfer service

BMJ is committed to ensuring that all good quality research is published. Our article transfer service helps authors find the best journal for their research while providing an easy and smooth publication process. As part of this service, once authors agree to transfer their manuscript all versions, supplementary files and peer reviewer comments are automatically transferred; without the need to resubmit or reformat. Authors who submit to the JNNP and are rejected will be offered the option of transferring to BMJ Neurology Open. BMJ Neurology Open is the open access companion journal to JNNP. It is indexed by DOAJ, and covers all areas of clinical neurology and neuroscience. The journal publishes original articles considered by peer reviewers to be coherent and technically sound, ensuring that the latest research is disseminated rapidly to a global audience. Find out more about BMJ Neurology Open. Please note that the article transfer service does not guarantee acceptance but you should receive a quicker initial decision on your manuscript. Contact the Transfer Editor at transfers@bmj.com

Video abstracts

We welcome video abstracts to accompany accepted research articles. These allow authors to personally talk through their work beyond the restrictions of a formal article to improve the user’s understanding. Note that we will not ask you to consider submitting a video abstract until your paper has been accepted. Please do not try to upload a video abstract upon initial submission of your manuscript. There are many tutorials online which can guide the production of a video abstract, using widely and often freely available software. Windows Movie Maker and Apple iMovie are the most common examples. Examples of video abstracts are available on our YouTube channel. Below are a few guidelines for making a video abstract. Authors may also want to ask their institution’s press/media office for assistance.
  • Video abstracts should not last longer than 4 minutes.
  • The content and focus of the video must relate directly to the study that has been accepted for publication, and should not stray beyond the data. We recommend that you follow the same structure as the paper itself i.e. briefly outline the background/context of the study, present your research objective, outline the methods used, present the key results and then discuss the implications of the outcomes.
  • The presentation and content of the video should be in a style and in terms that will be understandable and accessible to a general medical audience. The main language should be English, but we welcome subtitles in another language. Please avoid jargon that will not be familiar to a wide medical audience, and do not use abbreviations.
  • Authors usually talk directly into the camera and/or present a slideshow, but we encourage the use of other relevant visual and audio material (such as animations, video clips, still photographs, figures, infographics). If you wish to use material from previously published work or from other sources, please obtain the appropriate permissions from the relevant publisher or copyright owner.
  • If the video shows any identifiable living patients and/or identifiable personal details, authors need to demonstrate that consent has been obtained. If a patient consent form was provided for the related article, there is no need to provide this again for the video.
  • Please use the compression parameters that video sharing sites use. Often these are standard options from your editing software. A comprehensive guide is available from the vimeo website.
Videos are too large to email so will need to be uploaded to BMJ’s account on the Hightail website. Please include the journal’s name and your manuscript ID number in the message field – this will enable us to match your video to your paper. Your video needs to be received by the time that you return the corrections for your article proof, at the very latest. Please note that if you do not correctly label your video or if you miss the deadline, this may cause delays in publication of both your article and the video. All video abstracts will be assessed for suitability by the editorial team and publication is not guaranteed. In some cases editors may request edits to the video. Video abstracts are embedded within the research article online and also published separately on the journal’s YouTube channel. They are published under the same copyright terms as the associated article.

Data sharing

The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry adheres to BMJ’s Tier 3 data policy. We strongly encourage that data generated by your research that supports your article be made available as soon as possible, wherever legally and ethically possible. All research articles must contain a Data Availability Statement. For more information and FAQs, please see BMJ’s full Data Sharing Policy page.

ORCID

The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry mandates ORCID iDs for the submitting author at the time of article submission; co-authors and reviewers are strongly encouraged to also connect their ScholarOne accounts to ORCID. We strongly believe that the increased use and integration of ORCID iDs will be beneficial for the whole research community. Please find more information about ORCID and BMJ’s policy on our Author Hub.

Article processing charges

During submission, authors can choose to have their article published open access for 4,080 GBP (exclusive of VAT for UK and EU authors). Publishing open access has multiple benefits including wider reach, faster impact and increased citation and usage. Authors can also choose to publish their article in colour for the print edition – instead of the default option of black and white – for 460 GBP. There are no submission, page or online-only colour figure charges.

Waivers and Discounts

If authors choose to publish their article open access, an APC waiver may be available. Before applying for an APC waiver please consider: (1) Does your institution have an open access agreement with BMJ? If it does, then this may cover all or part of the APC for your article. Check BMJ’s open access agreements page to find out whether your institution is a member and what discounts you may be entitled to. (2) Have you received funding from a funder with an open access mandate or policy that covers paying APCs? If so, BMJ expects that the APC will be paid in full. If neither (1) nor (2) above apply then consider (3) Are all the authors of your article based in low-income countries*? If so, you are eligible to apply for a full or partial waiver from BMJ. Visit our author hub to learn more about our waivers policy and how to request one. Please note that regardless of the funding situation, authors can still choose to publish with us at no cost, and articles will be made available to our subscribers. *This list is reviewed annually and is based upon HINARI Core Offer Groups A and B, and the World Bank Country and Lending Groups.

Rapid responses

A rapid response is a moderated but not peer reviewed online response to a published article in Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry; it will not receive a DOI and will not be indexed. Find out more about responses and how to submit a response.

Submission guidelines

Please review the below article type specifications including the required article lengths, illustrations, table limits and reference counts. The word count excludes the title page, abstract, tables, acknowledgements, contributions and references. Manuscripts should be as succinct as possible. For further support when making your submission please refer to the resources available on the BMJ Author Hub. Here you will find information on writing and formatting your research through to the peer review process.  You may also wish to use the language editing and translation services provided by BMJ Author Services.

Original research

Full papers must present important and substantial new material. Articles should be of direct relevance to clinical practise. Thus we do not generally publish research based on animal experiments nor studies of normal nervous system function. All papers require ethical approval. Research reviews that systematically synthesise evidence (e.g. Systematic reviews, Meta-analysis, Scoping reviews, Mixed methods reviews, etc) should be submitted as Systematic reviews.
Word count: 3500 words maximum Abstract: 250 words, structured with headings Background, Methods, Results and Conclusions as below Tables/Illustrations: should not normally exceed 8 References: 40 Abstract Structured abstract of no more than 250 words under the following sub-headings: Background – include the specific study aims or hypothesis. Methods – include study design, setting, patients, interventions and main outcome measures. Results – give numerical data rather than vague statements that drug x produced a better response than drug y. Favour confidence intervals over p values, and give the numerical data on which any p value is based. Include absolute as well as relative risk numerical data. For more information on how to present results, see the Results section. Conclusions – do not make any claims that are not supported by data in the paper. Please include the key messages of your article after your abstract using the following headings. This section should be no more than 3-5 sentences and should be distinct from the abstract; be succinct, specific and accurate.
  • What is already known on this topicsummarise the state of scientific knowledge on this subject before you did your study and why this study needed to be done
  • What this study addssummarise what we now know as a result of this study that we did not know before
  • How this study might affect research, practice or policy summarise the implications of this study
This will be published as a summary box after the abstract in the final published article.

Systematic review

This article type includes all research reviews that systematically synthesise evidence (e.g. Systematic reviews, Meta-analysis, Scoping reviews, Mixed methods reviews, etc). Please include the research type in your title to make the nature of your study clear.
Please see Original research for more guidance on article requirements.

Short report

Topics suitable for presentation for short reports include single case reports which illustrate important new phenomena, or reports of short, original research studies. Short Reports require consent, regardless of anonymisation. This article type will not undergo peer-review without consent. All papers require ethical approval.
Word count: no more than 1500 words Abstract: structured, 200 words Tables/Illustrations: up to one of each References: should not normally exceed 15 Abstract Structured abstract of no more than 250 words under the following sub-headings: Background – include the specific study aims or hypothesis. Methods – include study design, setting, patients, interventions and main outcome measures. Results – give numerical data rather than vague statements that drug x produced a better response than drug y. Favour confidence intervals over p values, and give the numerical data on which any p value is based. Include absolute as well as relative risk numerical data. For more information on how to present results, see the Results section. Conclusions – do not make any claims that are not supported by data in the paper.

Review

Reviews will be solicited by the Editor and are subjected to a review process. Authors wishing to submit a review should seek the advice of the Editor in advance. Research reviews that systematically synthesise evidence (e.g. Systematic reviews, Meta-analysis, Scoping reviews, Mixed methods reviews, etc) are classified by the journal as Systematic reviews and must be submitted as such. Authors should bear in mind that the journal is also available online and the inclusion of additional material, eg video clips and sound files, and links to useful websites is strongly encouraged.
Word count: 5000 words maximum – bullet points encouraged Tables/Illustrations: should not normally exceed 5 References: should not normally exceed 40

Editorial

Editorials will be solicited by the Editor and are subjected to a review process. Authors wishing to submit an editorial should seek the advice of the Editor in advance.
Word count: 1500 words Tables/Illustrations: 1 table or figure References: should not normally exceed 25

Editorial commentary

A short editorial commentary to accompany an existing JNNP article. In the Summary/Abstract field, please provide a sentence that can be used to attract readers to your Editorial Commentary; this will appear immediately below the title and author and should be maximum 20 words (here is an example of an editorial commentary).
Word count: 500 words References: should not normally exceed 4

Letter

Letters containing original research should be submitted via ScholarOne and must be typed in double line spacing. Letters may be published in a shortened form at the discretion of the editor. Proofs will not be sent to the authors. All papers require ethical approval.
Word count: 1000 words Tables/Illustrations: 1 table or figure References: 5

Neurological picture

Neurological pictures are very brief case reports or historical vignettes. Submissions will now primarily be web based, extraordinary submissions will be published in the journal rarely. All Neurological Pictures require consent, regardless of anonymisation. This article type will not undergo peer-review without consent. All papers require ethical approval. View a sample format of a neurological picture. Images must be supplied in JPEG or GIF format with maximum dimensions of 500 x 500 pixels, minimum resolution of 300 DPI. Please include at least one multiple choice question with background information/ clinical history, along with a list of possible answers, including an indication and explanation of the correct answer (with references).
Word count: 500 words maximum, up to 5 references Authors: No more than 4 authors

Occasional essay

Occasional Essays will be solicited by the Editor and are subjected to a review process. Authors wishing to submit an Occasional Essay should seek the advice of the Editor in advance.
Word count: 3000-5000 words maximum Tables/Illustrations: 1-5 References: Less than 40

Supplements

The BMJ Publishing Group journals are willing to consider publishing supplements to regular issues. Supplement proposals may be made at the request of:
  • The journal editor, an editorial board member or a learned society may wish to organise a meeting, sponsorship may be sought and the proceedings published as a supplement.
  • The journal editor, editorial board member or learned society may wish to commission a supplement on a particular theme or topic. Again, sponsorship may be sought.
  • The BMJPG itself may have proposals for supplements where sponsorship may be necessary.
  • A sponsoring organisation, often a pharmaceutical company or a charitable foundation, that wishes to arrange a meeting, the proceedings of which will be published as a supplement.
In all cases, it is vital that the journal’s integrity, independence and academic reputation is not compromised in any way.
For further information on criteria that must be fulfilled, download the supplements guidelines. When contacting us regarding a potential supplement, please include as much of the information below as possible.
  • Journal in which you would like the supplement published
  • Title of supplement and/or meeting on which it is based
  • Date of meeting on which it is based
  • Proposed table of contents with provisional article titles and proposed authors
  • An indication of whether authors have agreed to participate
  • Sponsor information including any relevant deadlines
  • An indication of the expected length of each paper Guest Editor proposals if appropriate