Articles for MCCRC are written in informal, concise language. When writing the manuscript, follow these guidelines:

• Base your information on the latest standards and clinical practice guidelines.
• Be clear and concise; avoid convoluted sentences.
• Provide examples and practical points that can be readily applied to practice.
• Address readers directly, as if you’re speaking to them. For example: “After turning on the power, connect the tube….”
• In general, use active—not passive—verbs. Active verbs engage the reader and make the writing simpler, clearer, and more interesting.
• Clearly explain theoretical or complex terms in everyday language. Avoid medical and nursing jargon.
• Don’t use acronyms or abbreviations, except those you’re sure every reader is familiar with.
• As appropriate, use trailing zeroes for diagnostic test results, as in “urine pH 5.0.” However, Do NOT use trailing zeroes for drug dosages; for example, use “15 mg,” NOT “15.0 mg.”
• Use generic names for medications.
• Consider using boxed copy (sidebar) for points you’d like to emphasize, clarify, or elaborate on. Also consider putting appropriate information in tables (using Microsoft Word).

• Feature article: about 1,800 to 2,800 words
• Blogs: 1,000 to 1,500 words.

List all references in alphabetical order at the end of your manuscript. Do NOT use Microsoft Word footnote function and do NOT cite them within the text unless you are citing statistics or discussing a single study. In that case, use a format such as:

• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths annually.
• A study by Jones and colleagues found that …

You only need to provide sufficient information for readers to identify which reference matches with the information in the main text. References must be from professionally reliable sources and should be no more than 5 years old unless they are “classics.”

To format the references in your list, use the American Medical Association Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors or simply follow these examples:

• Submit in Microsoft Word. Other formats will NOT be accepted.
• Put the article title, your initials (not your name), and the date at the top of the first page of your article.
• Do NOT include extra hard returns between lines or paragraphs, extra spaces between words, or any special coding.
• The manuscript submission process is electronic. Please visit __________ to submit your manuscript and additional materials.
• Please note that you will be asked to sign documentation including the author agreement and disclosure of conflicts of interest.
• If you have additional authors, you will be asked to supply their names during the submission process. You will be provided with a code and a link to share with your coauthors after you complete the submission. They can then submit their author agreements and disclosure of conflicts of interest via the link.

• We will confirm receipt via email.
• Manuscript is reviewed by the editorial team. Note that all author agreements and conflict of interest statements must be submitted before internal editorial review can begin.
• If we’re interested in publishing your manuscript, we’ll send it for double-anonymous peer review (authors and reviewers do not know each other’s identity). Peer reviewers are selected based on their areas of expertise.
• After peer review, we’ll let you know whether the manuscript has been accepted, rejected, or recommended for revision.
• If accepted for publication, your article will go through our standard in-house editorial process to ensure adherence to our editorial style. Before it’s published (in print and/or online), you’ll have the opportunity to review the edited version.