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Scope and Mission
The Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions serves as a peer-reviewed forum for scholarly works addressing all aspects of continuing medical education (CME) and continuing professional development (CPD) for physicians and other health care professionals. Closely allied fields of such as knowledge translation and quality improvement are also of interest.

The journal serves three major audiences:

Practitioners: Those who administer, design, implement, and/or evaluate educational programs and other types of interventions aimed at facilitating learning, improving professional practice, and ultimately improving the quality of healthcare
Researchers: Those who engage in systematic inquiry to enhance theory and practice in CME/CPD and allied fields
Policymakers: Those who advocate for and create policies affecting CME/CPD and allied fields

It is expected that manuscripts will address one or more major topics of concern to theory and practice in the field of continuing education, including, but not limited to:

Goals and purposes of CME/CPD
Professionalism/ethics
Educational policy and law
Needs assessment
Innovative educational programs and interventions
Educational program planning, development and administration
Instructional design and techniques (including instructional technology)
Learning and behavior change (individual, team, organizational)
Quality improvement/performance improvement
Outcomes assessment and evaluation
Educational research methods
Trends and issues affecting the field of CPE/CPD

Authors who are uncertain about whether their manuscript falls within JCEHP's scope are encouraged to contact the Editor-in-Chief for more information.

Submission Types
Types of manuscripts suitable for publication in JCEHP include the following. Maximum word limit is 3000 unless otherwise noted (see additional information under Formatting Requirements below). All submissions other than editorials, book reviews, and Insights are double-blind peer-reviewed.

Original research. Quantitative, qualitative, mixed method.
Reviews. Systematic reviews, realist reviews, critical assessments of the research literature.
Innovations. Practical applications of new approaches to continuing education or novel applications of existing approaches.
Forum. Issues, problems, and/or proposed solutions as they relate to the CPE/CPD field.
Foundations. Theoretical, philosophical, or historical analyses. Of particular interest is the description, exploration, and/or evaluation of theoretical frameworks and methods from other fields for their applicability to CPE/CPD.
Methodology. Research and evaluation approaches, new developments, critical issues.
Book reviews. (By invitation or prior approval of Book Review Editor). Up to 650 words and 3 citations.
Short reports. Should report completed investigations. Maximum is 2000 words, including references, if there are no figures or tables. Figures and tables may be included; however, for each figure or table, the maximum word count is reduced by 400 words (eg, 1600 words maximum with one figure).
Insights. Personal reflections and commentary on any aspect of CPE/CPD; lessons learned from experience; analyses of critical events. Up to 650 words.

Authorship
JCEHP employs the authorship criteria recommended in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (http://www.icmje.org/urm_main.html).

Individual authors
To be considered an author contributors must meet all of the following conditions: 1) substantial contributions to conception and design of the study, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published. Corresponding authors are expected to ensure that all authors listed on the manuscript meet these conditions.

Multicenter groups
When a large, multicenter group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship defined above and will be asked to complete an author and conflict-of-interest disclosure form. When submitting a manuscript authored by a group, the corresponding author should clearly indicate the preferred citation and identify all individual authors as well as the group name. Journals generally list other members of the group in the Acknowledgments.

Other considerations

The acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship.
All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed.
Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Corresponding Author
All submissions must include the name and full contact information for the corresponding author (CA). The JCEHP editorial office will communicate only with the CA. In the event the authors wish to change the CA, a written request from the new CA and written consent from the original CA must be received.

Acknowledgements
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an acknowledgments section. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged. Because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions, these persons must give their permission to be acknowledged. Corresponding authors are responsible for obtaining permissions.

Conflicts of Interest When authors submit a manuscript, they are responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationships that might bias their work. Authors must state explicitly whether potential conflicts do or do not exist. The JCEHP editorial office will provide a form for this purpose that must be completed by each author.

Style Guide
JCEHP uses the AMA Manual of Style as a guide for authors and editors. Sample AMA reference formats are described below. Authors are encouraged to consult the style manual or articles previously published in JCEHP for additional guidance.

Formatting Requirements
Manuscripts
Essays and original research are invited. All manuscripts should be sent electronically, as a Microsoft WORD file, to slwilhelmson@ocpd.wisc.edu with a copy to caolson@ocpd.wisc.edu. Manuscripts are judged on the basis of style as well as content. Clarity, conciseness, and careful attention to syntax and grammar will be considered virtues.

All parts of the manuscript, including the title page, abstract, tables, and legends should be typewritten in English and double-spaced. Allow margins of at least one inch (3 cm) on all sides of the typed pages. Number pages consecutively throughout the paper.

Most submissions may be up to 3000 words (15 text pages) excluding references, tables, and figures. As indicated under Submission Types above, Book Reviews and Insights have a limit of 650 words. Short reports have a maximum of 2000 words. Under exceptional consideration, longer articles may be published. Approval to exceed word limits should be obtained prior to submission.

Title
All titles must be fewer than 16 words. Authors should supply a short version of the title, suitable for the running head and not exceeding 50 character spaces.

Authors
On a title page, include full names of authors, degrees, and other credentials such a fellowships and certifications; academic and/or other professional affiliations, as well as academic or professional titles.

Abstract

Research papers, reviews, and reports of innovations should be summarized in a structured abstract of not more than 250 words. The structured abstract should include four components: 1) the introduction, including the problem statement and purpose, 2) a statement of methods, describing how data were collected and managed, 3) a synopsis of results, and 4) a short discussion of the findings, including implications for practice.
Essays should be summarized in an unstructured abstract of 250 words or less.
NOTE: Authors are encouraged to give careful consideration to the content of titles and abstracts. Electronic searches often rely on their content.

Key Words
Authors must supply from three to ten key words or phrases that identify the most important subjects covered by the paper.

References
JCEHP uses AMA style for references. Basic examples are provided below. For other types of references, please consult the AMA Manual of Style. All references are to be numbered consecutively in the order of first mention and listed at the end of every paper. In the text, references should be cited consecutively by the corresponding superscript number. For direct quotations, page numbers should be included following the superscript number as illustrated in the example at the end of this sentence for reference #3, page 31.^3(p31) All papers that are published, in press, personal communications, and unpublished observations must be included. Abbreviations for journal titles should conform to those used in PubMed. Up to eight author names with initials should be provided in the reference listing.

Journal articles: Fox RD. Using theory and research to shape the practice of continuing professional development. J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2000; 20(4):238-246.
Books: Dennett DC. Freedom evolves. New York, NY: Penguin Group; 2003.
Book Section: Todd Z, Harrison SJ. Metaphor analysis. In: Hesse-Biber SN, Leavy P, eds. Handbook of Emergent Methods. New York, NY: The Guilford Press; 2008:479-493.
Internet Source (specific article): National Library of Medicine. Fact Sheet: Medline. Available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/medline.html. Accessed January 7, 2005.
Internet Source (site): American Board of Medical Specialties. Available at: http://www.abms.org. Accessed January 7, 2005.

Figures
All figures must be discussed or mentioned in the text and numbered in order of mention. Each figure must be provided with a brief, descriptive legend. Legends for all figures must appear at the end of the manuscript. Explanatory material for abbreviations in the figure should be explained in the legend for the figure. Every figure should be fully understandable even without narrative in the text.

Figures should be submitted as individual Word files and not included in the manuscript. Microsoft PowerPoint files are not acceptable. efore insertion in the Word file, line art figures should be saved as .tif or .eps, files at a minimum width of 3 inches (height will then vary) or 100% of size desired, with a resolution of 1200 dots per inch. Halftone photograph-type images should be saved as .tif or .eps files at a minimum width of 3 inches (height will then vary) or 100% of size desired, with a resolution of 300 dots per inch. All articles in JCEHP are published in black and white; accordingly, all figures should be submitted in black and white or greyscale.

Tables
All tables must be discussed or mentioned in the text and numbered in order of mention. Each table should have a brief descriptive title. Do not include explanatory material in the title: use footnotes, keyed to the table with superior lower-case letters. Place all footnotes to a table at the end of the table. Define all data in the column heads. Every table should be fully understandable even without references to the text. All tables must appear on separate pages at the end of the article; do not include them within the text.

Lessons for Practice
Every manuscript must include a separate page of lessons learned for planning, evaluation, or policy development. Each lesson is a single sentence report of a finding. Lessons for Practice may not exceed a total of 100 words. At publication, all lessons appear in a text box within the printed article.

For additional information contact:
Sonya Wilhelmson
Editorial Assistant
Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions
Tel: (608) 240-2043
Fax: (608) 240-6040
slwilhelmson@ocpd.wisc.edu

Curtis Olson, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions
caolson@ocpd.wisc.edu
Tel: (608) 240-6005