Submissions

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Author Guidelines

The journal publishes work on the medical care and welfare of combat athletes. Promotional content, partisan attack and administrative grievance are rejected without review.

Tracks and length

Athlete Mental Health and Neurobehavioral Welfare (3,000 to 5,000 words)
Original Clinical and Biomechanical Research (3,500 to 5,000 words)
Operational Fight Medicine and Trauma Protocols (2,500 to 4,000 words)
The Third Man: Referee Perspectives (1,500 to 3,000 words)
Commission Policy and Code Comparisons (2,000 to 4,500 words)
Clinical Ring Events and Case Reports (1,200 to 2,000 words)
Editorials (commissioned)

Preparation

Submit an anonymised Word manuscript and a separate title page giving authors, affiliations, ORCID identifiers, corresponding author, funding, ICMJE disclosures and ethics reference. Authorship follows the ICMJE criteria. Research involving athletes cites ethics approval; case reports require written consent or complete anonymisation; trials are registered before enrolment. Use a structured abstract of up to 300 words (unstructured, up to 200 words for referee perspectives and 150 for case reports), Vancouver references with DOIs, figures as separate 300 dpi files, and a data availability statement. Follow the applicable EQUATOR guideline and upload its checklist. Operational and regulatory manuscripts state the clinical roles, jurisdiction and rule set, and cite commission rules by section and date.

Process

Screening within two weeks; double-anonymous review with reports requested within three weeks; decisions of accept, minor revision, major revision or reject. Accepted articles receive a Crossref DOI and are published under CC BY 4.0. One written appeal is permitted, decided by an uninvolved editor. Misconduct is handled under COPE procedures.

Submission Preparation Checklist

  • The work is original and not under consideration elsewhere.
  • All authors meet the ICMJE authorship criteria and have completed the ICMJE disclosure form.
  • Ethics approval is cited and consent or anonymisation is confirmed where applicable.
  • The manuscript file is anonymised; a separate title page carries author details.
  • The manuscript is within the word limit for its track and uses Vancouver references.
  • The applicable EQUATOR checklist is uploaded.
  • A data availability statement is included.

Athlete Mental Health and Neurobehavioral Welfare

Traumatic brain injury, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, post-bout psychological crisis, addiction, chronic pain, post-career transition and psychiatric screening. 3,000 to 5,000 words; structured abstract. Expedited review.

Original Clinical and Biomechanical Research

Empirical research on trauma mechanisms, diagnostics, equipment, weight management and neurological preservation. 3,500 to 5,000 words; structured abstract.

Operational Fight Medicine and Trauma Protocols

Ringside triage, airway and trauma management, corner evaluation, suspension enforcement and ringside system improvement, by physicians, physician assistants and paramedics. 2,500 to 4,000 words; structured abstract.

The Third Man: Referee Perspectives

In-ring fighter assessment, loss of intelligent defence and referee-physician communication, by professional referees. 1,500 to 3,000 words; unstructured abstract.

Commission Policy and Code Comparisons

Health-centred analysis of regulation, weight policy, suspension enforcement and safety across combat codes and jurisdictions. 2,000 to 4,500 words; structured abstract.

Clinical Ring Events and Case Reports

Catastrophic events, rare presentations and complex ringside interventions, reported to CARE guidelines with consent. 1,200 to 2,000 words; unstructured abstract.

Copyright Notice

Authors retain copyright. Accepted articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence, which permits reuse with attribution. Authors may deposit any version of the work in repositories or on preprint servers, citing the published version and its DOI.

Privacy Statement

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