INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS

Scope of Magazine

Medical Electronics Design is exclusively for engineers and designers of medical electronic devices. MED brings the latest electronics advnaces and technologies to medical device designers who develop, design, and manufacture sophisticated medical electronics. Readers are professional personnel in medical electronic product design, development, manufacturing, quality assurance, purchasing and procurement, and corporate management. Worldwide circulation is approximately 25,000.

MED provides articles on a full range of design, engineering, and regulatory issues. Subjects covered include:
 

• Components Selection (ICs, Sensors, etc.)
• Reliability
• EMI/EMC
• Embedded PCs
• Testing
• Power Management
• Electronic Packaging
• System Architecture
• Imaging
• New Technologies

However, do not be limited to these topics. We welcome all subjects that are relevant to OEMs in the medical electronics space.

Requirements for Publication

The publishability of a manuscript in Medical Electronics Design is determined by a variety of factors. Manuscripts must be clearly directed to Medical Electronics Design’s readership, must not repeat recent coverage of the same topic, must be sharply focused on a well-defined thesis, and must meet the standards of peer reviewers. When possible, authors should consult with editorial staff before beginning manuscripts. Query letters, summaries, and outlines are welcome.

Manuscript Format

The appropriate length of submitted manuscripts varies with subject matter and audience. In general, manuscripts addressing topics of broad interest to a wide variety of Medical Electronics Design readers range from 1800 to 2200 words.

Whenever possible, please submit manuscripts electronically in Microsoft Word format. Files sent via e-mail should not exceed 2 MB. Contact the editor for placing larger files on Canon’s FTP server. Graphics should be contained in files separate from the text file. Acceptable graphics formats include .jpg, .eps, and .tif. Graphics should be 300 dpi at the size they will be printed.

Review Process

All manuscripts are subjected to double-blind peer review to ensure the quality and relevance of the materials. Manuscripts are also subject to copyediting. Authors are given the opportunity to review and approve or alter the edited draft before publication. On average, submissions require four to six weeks for review and one to three months for publication following review.

Conditions

1. Manuscripts are accepted for consideration with the understanding that they are unpublished and are not under review elsewhere. 2. While Medical Electronics Design does not discourage vendors or others engaged in the sale of products or services to our readers from submitting articles for publication, we do ask that authors disclose any financial interest in the material presented and strive to discuss it in a balanced, objective way. 3. No promotion of a specific brand or source of products or services is acceptable. Similarly, efforts to steer readers toward products or services offered by authors must be avoided. 4. Canon Communications LLC assumes the copyright to published manuscripts. 5. Canon Communications LLC assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork, although they are accepted for review. 

Tables, Figures, and Illustrations

1. Artwork must be provided separately, must not be included in the manuscript copy, and must correspond exactly to the text explanation.

2. Each must have a brief title or legend; additional information should appear as discussion in text.

3. Lettering and symbols should be large enough to remain legible after reduction.

4. Figures or illustrations should be limited to two per four manuscript pages.

5. Tables should contain only words and common mathematical and technical symbols; art (arrows, etc.) should not be included.

References and Bibliographies

1. References should be typed double-spaced on a separate page, should be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned, and should be indicated in text by superscript Arabic numerals.

2. Bibliographies (i.e., suggested readings) are unnumbered and should be organized alphabetically.

3. Use the following styles:

Article in journal—
Ketan Shah et al., "Gas Permeability and Medical Film Products," Medical Plastics and Biomaterials, 4, no. 5 (1998): 52-55.

WS Pietrzak, ML Verstynen, and DR Sarver, "Bioabsorbable Polymer Science for The Practicing Surgeon," Journal of Craniofacial Surgery 8, no. 2, (1997): 87.

Book and book chapter—
AD Russell, "Theoretical Aspects of Microbial Infection," in Sterilization Technology: A Practical Guide for Manufacturers and Users of Health Care Products, ed. Robert F Morrissey and G Briggs Phillips (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1993), 3–16.

Regina Herzlinger, Market-Driven Health Care: Who Wins, Who Loses in the Transformation of America’s Largest Service Industry (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1997).

Standards and reports—
Selected ASTM Standards on Packaging, 2nd ed., Philadelphia, American Society for Testing and Materials, 1987.

Human Factors Engineering Guidelines and Preferred Practices for the Design of Medical Devices, AAMI HE-1988, Arlington, VA, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, 1988.

Proceedings and meeting abstracts—
K Ino et al., "Suppression of Impurity-Backdiffusion in Vacuum Pumping Systems for Ultraclean Low-Pressure Semiconductor Processing," in Proceedings of the 44th National Symposium of American Vacuum Society (San Jose: American Vacuum Society, 1997), 7.

RJ Molinari, "Solid-Phase Synthesis of Small Molecule Drug Libraries Using Second-Generation 96-Well Array Synthesizer" (paper presented at the Second Annual Solid-Phase Synthesis Meeting, Coronado, CA, February 6–7, 1997). (For unpublished proceedings, give city and date of meeting where presentation was made, not the city of the organization’s office. Do not abbreviate month.)

Legal citations—
Federal Register, 57 FR:10702

21 USC 551(4)

Community Nutrition Institute v. Young, 818 F2d, 943 (DC Cir 1987).

SMDA, Section 16, amending FD&C Act, Section 503.

Mailing Address

Thank you for your interest in Medical Electronics Design, which is read by more than 20,000 professionals who work in product design, development, engineering, manufacturing, and other sectors of the medical electronics industry. Before you begin writing, please take a few minutes to read these guidelines.

When you are writing:

• Spend Time on Your Lead or Thesis. A good lead will pull readers into your article. Leads can be witty, surprising, and controversial. Typically one to three paragraphs, leads can be questions (no more than three), case studies, or analogies. Good leads also get to the point of the article quickly. Technical articles should have a solid thesis, which is raised within the first few paragraphs of the story.
• Spend Time on Your Conclusion. To quote the editors of the Harvard Business Review: "A good conclusion adds something new, but relevant, to the article—a forecast, a challenge, a clinching bit of evidence, or, ideally, something to do on Monday morning."
• Substantiate What You Write. It’s not enough for you to say so. Support your statements with facts based on your observations and research. Show your logic (and provide a references section as needed).
• Offer Practical Solutions and Insights. Try to answer questions the general reader might have about your topic. If possible, use real-life examples—people like to see what the "other guy" is doing.
• Keep It Short. Keep articles and sentences short and to the point. Do not use 20 words where 10 will do.
• Keep Your Article Focused. A long article may mean your topic is too broad. It’s not necessary to include paragraphs and paragraphs about a technology’s history and evolution. Instead, write about how one particular aspect of the technology will be changing how manufacturers produce product or write about "Three Ways to Reduce Time to Market."

  Other Tips.
  Once we receive your article:

  • Avoid cliches.
  • Use active instead of passive voice. (For example, rather than writing "This standard was published by ISO in 1996," write "ISO published this standard in 1996.")
  • Don’t promote a commercial product, service, or company.
  • Avoid excessive jargon, and define the terms you use.
  • Ask an objective colleague to read your article and provide feedback.
  • Before mailing your article, double-check the facts.
     
• Your Article Will Be Reviewed. All MED articles are reviewed by a panel of medical electronics experts to ensure that articles are factually correct and relevant to our readers.
• Your Article Will Be Edited. Everyone who writes for MED is edited for space, clarity, or style. Typically articles are edited to eliminate wordiness and awkward sentences, to add punch to a lead or part of an article, or to make the organization more logical. You will receive a copy of your edited article to review prior to publication to ensure no factual errors have occurred.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the typical length of an article?
A useful guideline is 1800-2200 words.

How do I submit electronic images?
Figures should be sent in their original file format (i.e., NOT as a photo embedded in the article). Graphic images must be at least 2 x 2 inches at 300 dpi. Acceptable formats are .jpg, .eps, or .tif.

How much do you pay for articles?
Like most industry publications, we do not pay for articles from industry experts.

Do I get to see the article before it is printed?
Yes. You will be faxed or e-mailed a galley copy of the edited version to review prior to publication.

Thanks again for your interest in MED. We look forward to seeing your article.