The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (JLME), a publication of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, happily accepts accept unsolicited manuscripts. Turn-around time for peer-review is typically eight to ten weeks. If the article is accepted we then endeavor to place the article in the next available open slot in an issue of JLME.
JLME’s readership includes more than 4,500 attorneys, physicians, nurses, hospital and HMO administrators, ethicists, and other professionals concerned with issues related to health care. Published articles are both relevant and accessible to this broad spectrum of readers.
The following guidelines outline the major steps to prepare papers for publication. It is the editors' desire to make the preparation of manuscripts as simple as possible. If you have questions, please contact us via the following details:
Edward Hutchinson
Editor
The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics
Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Tel: (617) 262-4990 ext. 13
Fax: (617) 437-7596
Email: publications@aslme.org
In preparing papers to JLME authors should observe the following:
- All manuscripts must be typed and double-spaced.
- Manuscripts must be prepared using Microsoft Word. The electronic copy must be an uncompressed Microsoft Word for Windows file. If using Word is impossible, please contact the editorial office before sending a file in another format.
- Manuscripts should be ten to forty double-spaced pages, including endnotes. JLME uses endnotes, not footnotes. See more information under Endnote Format below.
- Out of respect for peer reviewers, the editors do not consider articles already under consideration by other journals.
II. FORMATTING AND STYLE REQUIREMENTS FOR ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTS
Authors should format their work to follow the Journal's in-house stylebook, which governs our use of acronyms, hyphenation, italicizing, capitalization, subheading, citation, and the like.
Spellings
Authors must use standard American English spellings.
Figures and Diagrams
All figures, diagrams, and tables must be camera-ready. The editors will not create figures, diagrams, or tables. They must be created as separate electronic files. If you have questions about suitability, contact the editorial office. Figures, diagrams, and tables should be given individual title and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. Indicate in the text or margin of your manuscript the most appropriate location for each figure.
Endnote Format
The Journal uses endnotes, not footnotes. For reasons related to layout, we also do not want any link between the endnote number in the body of the paper and the corresponding endnote reference at the end of the body. Consequently, do not use the built-in endnote/footnote mechanism within Microsoft Word. Instead, within the body of the paper, superscript each endnote number. Then, at the end of the body, type the endnote references in normal type. The text of the endnotes must be formatted as outlined below. Each new citation requires its own note: If you want to refer to a note listed previously in the text, then at the endnote entry use id. or supra, as is warranted. Do not place more than one note at one place in the text.
Because of its interdisciplinary appeal, the Journal has a unique style of citation. Book and article references generally follow the Chicago Manual of Style; statute, case, regulation, and like citations generally follow the Uniform System of Citation (the Bluebook).
Endnotes are numbered consecutively; references to earlier notes should receive their own numbers, for example:
1. See Jones, supra note 18.
Notes should not be strung together. For example, replace 21, 22, 23 with 21. The text of any multiple citation within a single note is linked together with semicolons.
Below, find the acceptable endnote forms, listed by categories. You must use initials with first names. For institutional authors, go smallest unit to largest (e.g., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Please note that, unlike Bluebook form, general references to articles require complete page citations, that is, the first and last pages. If you are quoting from a published work or citing to a particular part of it, you must also cite the page(s) in question that you are quoting from or citing.
Articles in Journals
Use abbreviated titles for two journals only: N. Engl. J. Med. and JAMA. Journals that begin each issue at page 1 (as opposed to running page numbers consecutively throughout the full volume) must also include the specific issue number. For example:
1. D.E. Hoffmann and A.J. Tarzian, 'The Girl Who Cried Pain: A Bias Against Women in the Treatment of Pain,' Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 29 (1992): 13-27, at 19.
2. J.P. Jones, 'Hospitals,' Hastings Center Report, 55, no. 3 (1986): 2-11.
Nonarticle in Journals
Use plain type following author name to describe anything less than an article (student note, letter to the editor, editorial), unless these descriptions are in the title of the work itself:
1. J.P. Jones, Book Review, 'Hospitals,' Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 30 (2001): 56-60, at 57.
Articles or Chapters in Edited Collections
1. J.P. Jones, 'Hospitals,' in W.W. Jones and W.P. Jones, eds., Hospitals and Mergers (Garden City: Publishers Press, 1978): 3-8.
Newspapers and Magazines
Spell out the date. Page numbers are not essential since they sometimes vary by edition.
1. J.P. Jones, 'Hospitals,' New York Times, October 1, 1986, at 6.
Books
These always require a pincite.
1. W.W. Jones and W.P. Jones, eds., Hospitals and Mergers (New York: Publishers Press, 1978): at 10.
Reports
This is a modification of the book citation. Government and international reports can stand alone (hence, they're italicized), but they traditionally don't have publishing and publication city information.
1. Author, Report Name, Description (if applicable, in caps if official), Identifying number (month, day, year).
Treatises and Other Intergovernmental Materials
Follow Bluebook . Generally, documents (including resolutions) are italicized.
Cases
1. Jackson v. Metropolitan, 348 F. Supp. 954, 956-58 (M.D. Pa. 1972), aff'd, F.2d 754 (3d Cir. 1973).
Statutes and Regulations
Note that every new citation requires a year.
1. 7 C.F.R. § 319.76 (1990).
Webpages
The webpage being cited should be the page where the source begins, not where the source is merely described or available for purchase. Do not provide Internet citations for webpages that require a password or fee to access.
The title of the webpage, if this is the source being cited, should always be in italics (as opposed to quotation marks) unless the portion being cited is only a part of a webpage (e.g., a side column).
Authors are required to independently verify all Internet citations as a final step to submitting their manuscript. Inadvertent errors can only be caught by trying to access the Website addresses as they are written in the endnotes from an Internet browser. Internet addresses should be typed out letter by letter (that is, not in hyperlinked format).
a. 'at' for sources available ONLY on the Internet
1. R.R. Smith, Jones on the Internet: Confusion and Confabulation, Citation Debate Forum, at
b. 'available at' for sources also available from traditional media Please provide the complete form of the traditional citation as well as the parallel Internet citation. Because the source has already been published elsewhere, there is no need to add a 'last visited' date after the Internet citation.
1. 'Tyson Family Loses in Oregon Court; Eugene Judge Denies HIV-Positive Mom Right to Breastfeed, Assigns Custody of Infant to State,' Rethinking AIDS, 7, no. 6 (June 1999), available here.
c. 'available through' for search-engine-type websites:
1. ... available through
Interviews or Personal Communications
For personal communications, if there is more than one author for the article, specify which author in parenthesis.
1. Jagdesh Bhagwati, interview by Geraldine Doogue, Life Matters, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (March 12, 2002).
2. Personal communication from Joe Smith to author (MJM) (February 23, 2003).
Speech
1. J. Saramago, 'From Justice to Democracy by Way of the Bells,' closing speech of the World Social Forum, Porte Alegre, Brazil, February 5, 2002, trans. R. Finnegan and C. Johnson.
Paper Presented at Conference
1. G.J. Annas, Genism, Racism, and the Prospect of Genetic Genocide, paper presented at The New Aspects of Racism in the Age of Globalization and the Gene Revolution, UNESCO 21st Century Talks, World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Durban, South Africa, September 3, 2001, available here (quoting Craig Venter).
Abstract from Paper Presented at Conference Published in Conference Proceedings
1. E.W. Clayton, 'Creating a Process to Collect Human Biological Materials and Medical Records for Research from Patients in Teaching Hospitals,' abstract from presentation at A Decade of ELSI Research: A Celebration of the First Ten Years of the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) Programs, printed in Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 29, no. 2, suppl. (2001): 5.
2. Z. Lazzarini et al., 'State Efforts to Reduce Perinatal HIV Transmission,' Abstract No. 44105, Proceedings of the XII International Conference on AIDS, Geneva, Switzerland, June 28 July 3, 1998 (1998): 959.
Research Protocols
1. L. Brewster, J. Kleijnen, G. Van Montfrans, 'Pharmacotherapy for Hypertension in People of Sub-Saharan Africa or of Sub-Saharan African Descent.' Protocol of the Cochrane Hypertension Group, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 3, 2001 (citing earlier studies).
III. SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT
Once you have prepared your manuscript, please follow the instructions on how to submit your paper found here.