Information for Authors

Last edited 07/08/2020 1:48PM EST

The Annals of Family Medicine is your top-ranked primary care journal according to 2020 Journal Citation Reports. We are open access, no fees to publish.

The Annals of Family Medicine is the #1 cited primary care research journal in the world, according to the 2020 Clarivate Journal Citation Reports, with a 5-year journal impact factor of 6.347. Formed in 2003 as a collaborative effort of seven family medicine organizations, the Annals publishes around 120 articles per year across six bimonthly issues.

Why publish in Annals of Family Medicine?

  • We are open access and charge no fees for submission or publication. 
  • All articles are made available on annfammed.org to the public immediately upon publication.
  • Each issue’s table of contents is sent electronically to approximately 120,000 subscribers. 
  • Our editorial staff is available to personally answer author questions, from submission through publication, via email or phone.
  • We engage with authors to promote all published articles with a comprehensive communications strategy. 
  • The journal is indexed in a number of databases, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cinahl, Science Citation Index Expanded and Current Contents/Clinical Medicine.
  • The Annals deposits all published content in PubMed Central (PMC).

Important Facts about Annals of Family Medicine

  • Journal Impact Factor (JIF): 4.686, #1/Primary Care, #21/Internal Medicine
  • Acceptance rate: 9% 
  • Days to first decision (median): 12
  • Days to first decision with review (median): 67
  • Unique visitors per month: @160,000
  • Page views per month: @230,000 
  • Average Altmetric mentions per article (since 2018): 36 See sample Altmetric Report

We encourage a variety of contributions

The Annals welcomes manuscripts from authors with new knowledge to contribute to understanding and improving health and primary care.

The Annals includes a broad range of content, from theory development to rigorous quantitative and qualitative research, to the application of research in practice, to the development and implementation of policy.

We particularly welcome work that bridges boundaries between disciplines. We support efforts to bring research to practice and practice to research.

  • Original Research. Reports of clinical, biomedical, behavioral, social, health-services, and policy research.
  • Methodology. Development of methods to advance understanding.
  • Theory. Development and testing of explanatory models.
  • Systematic Reviews. Critical syntheses that advance theory, methods, or identify new research directions. The Annals does not publish clinical updates, expert reviews, or case reports.
  • Research Briefs. Concise reports of research summaries, hypotheses, or works in progress.
  • Special Reports. Reports of important, timely topics that do not fit into other article categories.
  • Essays. Reflections from clinicians, patients, families, communities, and policymakers.
  • Innovations in Primary Care. Succinct stories of on-the-ground innovations that make a difference in primary health care.

Instructions for Authors and Policies

In general, manuscripts should be prepared according to guidelines described in the ICMJE's "Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals" (formerly Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts).

The following PDF documents provide important information for authors.

Instructions for Authors  *updated June 25, 2019

Policy on Authorship  *updated October 16, 2008

Policy on Conflict of Interest  *updated September 25, 2008

Policy on Duplicate/Prior Publication  *updated October 22, 2019

Policy on Prepublication Release of Information and Embargo  *updated October 22, 2019

Policy on Supplements  *updated June 25, 2019

To Submit a Manuscript

The Annals uses a web-based manuscript submission system called eJournalPress. All manuscripts must be submitted through this system.

To check on the status of an existing submission, log on to eJournalPress.
Note: eJournalPress uses one account for both author and reviewer tasks.

1. Read the Instructions for Submitting a Manuscript:

Instructions for Submitting a Manuscript  *updated June 25, 2019

Follow the instructions as you go through the submission process.

2. If you have any questions about submitting a manuscript, contact the Annals at AnnFamMed@umich.edu or 734-763-7454.

3. If a revised manuscript is invited by the editors, complete and return required forms to the Annals office. Forms are available below.

Authors: Submit your paper here.

Forms

All authors are required to complete and return the Manuscript Agreement form before publication. For additional information about forms, see the Instructions for Authors.

Manuscript Agreement (PDF) *updated July 1, 2019
Manuscript Agreement (Word)

Checklist for Submission  *updated June 25, 2019

Consent of Individual to Publish Material  *updated June 25, 2019

Editorial Correspondence

Please address editorial correspondence to:

John Holkeboer, Senior Editorial Coordinator
Annals of Family Medicine
300 North Ingalls Street, NI-4D09
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
AnnFamMed@umich.edu
734-763-7454 (phone)
734-936-6006 (fax)