Submitting Manuscripts

Information for Prospective Authors

Revised Mar 15, 2024

Medical Problems of Performing Artists provides a worldwide forum for professionals involved in all fields of practice and research related to the medical, physiological, and psychological issues affecting performing artists, including musicians, dancers, singers, actors, and others.

MPPA is pleased to consider original research studies, case reports, systematic reviews, and letters to the editor with the understanding that they have not been previously published, posted online, or submitted for publication elsewhere.

Beginning with Volume 35 (2020), MPPA is published online-only (e-journal).

Manuscripts should be submitted to the journal via email to:
manuscriptmanager.net/mppa

EFFECTIVE MARCH 1, 2023, MPPA will move to a new manuscript submission process on Manuscript Manager. All manuscripts submitted to MPPA (including all revised papers) must be submitted through the Manuscript Manager portal. For new submissions, there will be a manuscript submission fee of $90 USD, paid once on submission; the fee will be billed via PayPal after submission of the manuscript and it must be paid before the paper begins peer-review.

MPPA is published quarterly by Science & Medicine in partnership with the:

• Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare (ASPAH)

• Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA)

Manuscripts

Manuscripts should be prepared, and research conducted, in accordance with guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts (icmje.org). Submitted manuscripts must include a cover letter indicating the name of the corresponding author, as well as their address, telephone/fax numbers, and e-mail address. In the cover letter, authors must disclose:

• Any financial support or grants supporting this research, including the grantee's name and identifying grant numbers.

• Any financial arrangements or organizational affiliations that might constitute a conflict of interest or influence interpretation of their study results.

• Any prior presentation or publication, including preprints.

• Any use of text-generating tools (AI) to help prepare the manuscript and which parts are affected.

• For human studies, IRB approval is required and should be noted in the cover letter and article manuscript (Methods section), including IRB name and case number. Study participants must give written informed consent, and the study must have been performed following standard ethical guidelines for human and animal subjects.

Submitted manuscripts should be accompanied by the following:

1. Author-suggested reviewers: Authors submitting papers to MPPA should include the names of 4 potential qualified reviewers for their paper. Reviewers should have demonstrated published expertise in the topic area, be from outside the author's institution, and not a current or recent research partner. Please provide names, institutional affiliation, and email.

2. Ethical approval: All studies involving human subjects require ethics committee and/or institutional review board (IRB) approval, which should be clearly noted in the cover letter and in the Methods section of the paper. This includes interventional studies but also observational studies, surveys, and interviews. Participants must give written informed consent. Case reports require the subject's written permission, to be submitted with the manuscript (and for US authors, a statement about compliance with HIPAA requirements). If an IRB determines that a study is exempt, a letter from the IRB granting the waiver should be submitted with the manuscript.

3. Authors Disclosure/Copyright: All persons designated as authors must meet the criteria for authorship (see International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts, icmje.org), have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the paper, and have followed common ethical standards of the research community. With the submitted paper, a statement must be included, noting the title of the paper and date and signed by all authors, that says:
   "All authors certify that we have participated substantially in the conception, design, analysis, and writing of this study, and we have approved the manuscript and agree with its submission to Medical Problems of Performing Artists. This manuscript represents original, unpublished material and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, nor has it been posted on the Internet for public access. In consideration of Medical Problems of Performing Artists' taking action in reviewing and editing my submission, the author(s) undersigned agrees to transfer, assign, or otherwise convey all copyright ownership to Science & Medicine, Inc., in the event that such work is published in Medical Problems of Performing Artists. If the paper is accepted for publication, the authors agree that it will not be published elsewhere or posted on the Internet, in whole or part, without the written consent of Medical Problems of Performing Artists."

   MPPA offers an Open Access option for authors wish to post their papers without restriction on the internet. Also, authors whose university, funding body, or country mandates Open Access publication must purchase the Open Access option. Only authors who have paid the article processing fee for the journal's Open Access may post their final published PDF on the internet.

Format

Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with International Committee of Medical Editors Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts (icmje.org). Papers are to be submitted in standard word-processing format (e.g., MS Word) at: manuscriptmanager.net/mppa.

Authors requiring assistance with English language for their papers are encouraged to contact a professional translation service before submission of their manuscript. This will ensure that the academic content of your paper can be fully understood and appreciated by the editors and reviewers.

To ensure that studies are described in enough detail to be evaluated in peer-review and by readers, authors should follow accepted reporting guidelines for different study designs, as outlined in the NLM Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives or the EQUATOR Network: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/research_report_guide.html or https://www.equator-network.org

Please include the completed checklists with your submission:

• For observational studies, consult STROBE checklists: https://strobe-statement.org/index.php?id=available-checklists

• For survey studies, see the Consensus-Based Checklist for Reporting of Survey Studies (CROSS) guidelines (Table 1): Sharma et al, J Gen Intern Med, 2021

• Systematic review manuscripts, as well as narrative reviews, must describe the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data, following PRISMA guidelines (please include the completed PRISMA checklist with your submission): http://prisma-statement.org

• Case reports should follow the CARE guidelines and must include a signed patient consent form (and for US authors, a statement about compliance with HIPAA requirements).

MPPA is pleased to consider original research studies, case reports, systematic reviews, and letters to the editor. Because of the large number of papers submitted, the journal is unable to accommodate other types of papers, including historical or biographical reports, commentaries, and scoping reviews. Narrative reviews and other manuscript types should be proposed to the editorial office at mppa@sciandmed.com before submission. Manuscripts should be prepared following these guidelines:

• Text length will vary with content, with lengths being approximately:
  Original articles -- 4000 words, 40 refs, 6 tables/figures (combined total count)
  Brief/case reports -- 2000 words, 15 refs, 3 tables/figures
  Letters -- 1000 words, 5 refs, 1 table/figure
  Word count includes the manuscript body only (excludes title page, abstract, tables, figures, and references). Systematic review articles may be longer but will be considered on an individual basis. Contact the publisher for approval.

• Title page should include the following: title; authors, with highest earned academic degrees, institutional affiliations; name, postal mailing address, phone/fax numbers, and e-mail address of the corresponding author; acknowledgment of grants or funding, any conflicts of interest, and prior presentation.

• An abstract not exceeding 300 words that summarizes the objective, methods, results, and conclusion of the study must be included with all articles. A list of 5-6 keywords should be included at the end of the abstract.

• The research question and hypothesis for your study should appear at the end of the introduction.

• IRB approval, and participants' written informed consent, must be noted in the text (Methods).

• Methods must explain the procedures and collection of data sufficiently to enable reproducing the results. Study type must be clearly stated. Recruitment of subjects—including methods, source, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and assignment to groupings— should be explained. For instruments or measures used in the study, the reasons for choosing these and their validity/reliability should be noted.

• Statistical analysis: tests of statistical analysis must be fully described in the Methods, including reasons for choosing. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as p-values, which fail to convey important information about effect size and precision of estimates.

  • Power analysis or sample size justification should be provided to show the proper study size, when appropriate. Power analysis should be conducted a priori.

  • Means and SD for continuously measured data should be expressed as mean (SD), with values given with one decimal place and SD in parentheses, not as plus/minus: e.g., 33.3 (9.6).

  • Effect size and its 95% confidence interval should be included in addition to the statistical significance claim. When reporting p-values, use the exact p-value (e.g., p = 0.03, not p < 0.05).

  • Missing data and multiplicity issues should be addressed.

• Questionnaires, surveys: copies of any questionnaires or surveys created for the study (excluding well-known instruments, e.g., DASH) should be submitted with your manuscript for the reviewers’ examination. For non-English studies, include both the native language version and an English-translated version.

• Systematic reviews: Registration is encouraged. Provide the name of the registry (e.g., PROSPERO) and registration number at end of the Abstract.

• Borrowed materials must be fully identified, and written permission provided from both the author and publisher. Please include copies of permission letters when submitting the manuscript.

• Tables and illustrations are encouraged. All tables and illustrations must be cited, in order, in the text. Tables should be provided in editable, word-processing format. Figures should be professionally prepared or generated by spreadsheet or presentation software (e.g., Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). Figures should be submitted as high-resolution digital or electronic files (JPEF or TIFF format, 300 dpi/ppi or higher preferred) or in native format.

• Videos associated with the study can be linked to in the journal articles.

• Authors contributions should be noted at the end of the text or in the cover letter. MPPA is a signatory to the ICMJE and all authors listed for a paper should meet the ICMJE criteria for authorship; please see section II of their Recommendations (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/) and provide a brief description of the contributions of each author. Below is a sample from another paper --

  • Authors’ Contributions. RB designed the review, developed the search strategy, and performed the initial searches. RB and LF independently performed the critical appraisal of the included studies. RB and LF wrote the first draft of the manuscript. FC is lead doctoral supervisor and supported the development of the SLR protocol. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript. 

• References should be cited consecutively and listed numerically as they appear in the text. For reference style, please see the National Library of Medicine "Citing Medicine": https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/. Material from online sources should list the URL and date accessed. DOI numbers should be included for all references.

  • Examples are shown of a journal article, book, and website citation:

    Kenny DT, Driscoll T, Ackermann BJ. Is playing in the pit really the pits? Med Probl Perform Art 2016;31(1):1-7. https://doi.org/10.21091/mppa.2016.1001

    Sataloff RT, Brandfonbrener AG, Lederman RJ (eds): Textbook of Performing Arts Medicine, 3rd ed. Narberth, PA; Science & Medicine, 2010

    Noise and hearing loss prevention [webpage]. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control; updated 17 Sep 2015. Available at: www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/stats.htm. Cited 22 Oct 2015.

Review Process

Manuscripts meeting the selection criteria to be considered for publication are subject to peer-review by the editors, editorial board, and/or other experts in the field. The journal uses double-blind peer-review with two reviewers. MPPA adheres to ICMJE and COPE guidelines.

Editorial decisions are based on the relevance of a manuscript to the journal and on the manuscript's originality and importance, quality of research methods, and contribution to the overall evidence about performing artists' performance, health, and healthcare.

Accepted manuscripts are copyedited for grammar and clarity, to conform to journal style, and to meet space limitations. Prior to publication, the corresponding author will receive PDF proof of the edited article to review editorial changes and is responsible for proofreading the article in entirety. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made by the copyeditor and authorized by the corresponding author. After publication, articles will be posted on the journal's website www.sciandmed.com/mppa and on Ingenta https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/scimed/mppa.

Indexing

The journal content is indexed in:

• MEDLINE/PubMed (2010 forward)

• PsycInfo (2023 forward)

• Current Contents/Arts & Humanities, ISI/BIOMED

• Excerpta Medica/EMBASE

• CINAHL

• International Index to Music Periodicals

• Music Index

• RILM (Répertoire Internationale de Littérature Musicale) Abstracts of Music Literature)

• Google Scholar

Copyright, Open Access, and Digital Archives

Copyright: Manuscripts accepted for publication are copyrighted by the publisher in the issue published and may not be reproduced elsewhere or posted in whole or part on the internet without written permission from the publisher.

Open Access: Authors have the option to publish their paper under Open Access, whereby, for an article processing fee, their paper will be made freely available online on publication. Information will be provided with the author proof and payment must be made to the publisher before papers can be posted online. The charge for Open Access is $2,100 USD per paper (subject to change).

Digital Archives: MPPA on written request will grant permission to authors to post their manuscripts (not the final PDF) in university archives, NIH public access, or similar centrally organized repositories required by funding bodies, provided the works appear 12 months after publication in MPPA. Authors should note on their posted manuscript that the paper has been published in MPPA, with the date, volume, and page numbers. Only authors who have opted for the journal's Open Access may post their final published PDF.

Authors wishing to post copies of their papers on personal websites should post the original prepublication manuscript, noting that the paper has been published in MPPA. Posting papers on other services or websites is prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

Impact Factor

Based on the 2020/2021 Journal Citation Reports, MPPA's current impact factor is 1.106.

Reprints

Reprints may be purchased from the publisher.