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AIMS AND SCOPE
Minnesota Medicine is the journal of the Minnesota Medical Association, continuously published since 1918. The magazine is mailed to just under 5,000 physicians who are members or retired members of the MMA. An email link is sent to medical students and medical residents in Minnesota. The magazine also is viewable online.

Minnesota Medicine is intended to serve as a credible forum for presenting information and ideas affecting Minnesota physicians and their practices. The content of articles and the opinions expressed in Minnesota Medicine do not represent the official policy of the MMA unless this is specified.

Each bimonthly issue contains about 14 individual articles, including original research, clinical content, commentaries, and feature articles about physicians and topics of interest to physicians. Each issue also includes a section of information about the activities of the MMA. Most issues include articles that offer free CME credit to members of the MMA.
 

MINNESOTA MEDICINE EDITORIAL LEADERSHIP
Owner and Publisher: Minnesota Medical Association
Medical Editors: Rahel Nardos, MD; Christopher Wenner, MD; Colin West, MD, PhD

Editor: Greg Breining

Director of Communications: Dan Hauser, APR

Advisory Board

  • Vedavathi Bellamkonda-Athmara, MD 
  • Grant Botker, MD
  • Devon Callahan, MD
  • Derrick Lewis (medical student)
  • Charles R. Meyer, MD, (retired)

EDITORIAL POLICIES 
Submissions to Minnesota Medicine must have a Minnesota connection. Generally, this means a Minnesota author, but occasionally it may mean research done in Minnesota by an author from another area.

Clinical submissions should:

  • Include a cover letter with the name, affiliation and contact information (email and phone) for the corresponding author. Manuscripts are accepted for publication on the condition they are submitted only to Minnesota Medicine. Please include the full name, academic degree and position title of each author of the submission.
  • Be written in Microsoft Word. Photos and images should be submitted separately, not imbedded in a Word document. Charts, graphs and tables should be created in Word, if possible. If they are created in another kind of document, they should be submitted as separate files.
  • Include a conflict of interest statement at the end of the text.
  • Conform with AMA style for text and references.

Commentaries, feature articles and other non-clinical articles should:

  • Include contact information and affiliation for the author (email and phone), plus full name, academic degree and position title of each author of the submission.
  • Be written in Microsoft Word. Photos and images should be submitted separately, not embedded in a Word document.
  • Conform with AP style for text. References in non-clinical submissions should be in alphabetical order, with no citation numbers in the text.

Corrections and retractions
Minnesota Medicine makes every effort to publish a magazine without errors. It is expected that the final version of a manuscript is accurate and complete. Authors are sent PDF page proofs before publication, so they can check the content.

  • Occasionally, an error may be discovered after publication that requires the publication of a correction. Corrections will be published in the next issue of the magazine, and the information will be corrected in any digital versions of the article.
  • Changes arising from the normal course of new scientific research are not within the scope of this policy and don’t need correction or withdrawal.
  • If there is substantial doubt arises as to the honesty or integrity of a submitted or published article, it is the editor’s responsibility to make sure the matter is appropriately addressed, usually by the authors' sponsoring institution. It is not normally the editor’s responsibility to carry out an investigation or make a determination. The editor should be promptly informed of the decision of the sponsoring institution. A retraction will be printed if it is determined that a fraudulent paper was published.

ADVERTISING POLICIES
Minnesota Medicine sells advertising space when the inclusion of advertising does not interfere with the mission or objectives of the publication. To maintain the integrity of Minnesota Medicine, advertising cannot influence editorial decisions or editorial content. Decisions to sell advertising are made independently of and with information pertinent to specific editorial content. The publication of an advertisement does not imply MMA endorsement or sponsorship.
 
PEER REVIEW PROCESS 
Clinical and research submissions to Minnesota Medicine are assigned to reviewers with efforts to minimize potential conflicts of interests. Submissions generally are submitted to two to four reviewers, who make an initial recommendation as to whether the article is appropriate for publication in Minnesota Medicine. If that is the case, reviewers then make overall assessments of the submission plus any suggestions for revisions and/or additions.

For authors, the time from receipt of submission to first decision on publication is usually about four weeks. From acceptance to publication may be from 60 to 120 days. Minnesota Medicine’s acceptance rate for original clinical submissions is approximately 75 percent.
 
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Authors submitting manuscripts must include a disclosure form to alert Minnesota Medicine of any potential conflict of interest and to acknowledge all funding sources supporting the work. The corresponding author must ensure that all authors have been asked to disclose any conflicts of interest.
A conflict of interest includes a financial association or relationship that could influence the objectivity, integrity, or interpretation of a publication. Conflicts of interest include relationships with corporations whose products or services are related to the subject matter of the article. Possible conflicts may also include past or present association as advisor, student, or family relationship.

Disclosing a potential conflict does not necessarily invalidate the research or comments of a reviewer; it gives readers information they can use to independently assess the work. Any potential conflict will be disclosed with the article.
 
RESEARCH ETHICS
Submissions to Minnesota Medicine must comply with state and federal regulatory bodies for the inclusion of animal and human research data. All re-search must have been carried out within an appropriate ethical framework.

Research involving human subjects, human material, or human data must have been performed in accordance with the institution’s Institutional Review Board or similar, and in alignment with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Minnesota Medicine expects the application and promotion of humane, responsible animal care and use in any submitted research or activity. All research involving animals must adhere to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the authors’ institution and be in compliance with federal and state regulations governing humane care and use of laboratory animals, including the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal Welfare Act.
 
INFORMED CONSENT
Patient identifiers will not be published unless there is written informed consent from the patient, provided to Minnesota Medicine, and the identifiers are necessary for the scientific purpose of the manuscript. Photographs of subjects showing recognizable features must be accompanied by a signed release authorizing publication.