BMJ Journal Submission Checker
Validate your manuscript against BMJ journal requirements: structured abstract format, reporting guideline compliance, ethics declarations, and author contribution statements.
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BMJ submission requirements
The BMJ (British Medical Journal) group publishes dozens of high-impact journals including The BMJ, BMJ Open, BMJ Quality & Safety, and Heart. BMJ journals require structured abstracts with specific subheadings, full compliance with relevant reporting guidelines (CONSORT for trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews), explicit ethics and consent declarations, and author contribution statements following ICMJE criteria. Word count limits are strictly enforced. Our checker validates all BMJ journal formatting requirements.
The BMJ (British Medical Journal) is one of the world's oldest and most widely read medical journals, with more than 20 million monthly online visitors. Part of the BMJ Publishing Group, it sits alongside BMJ Open, Heart, Gut, Thorax, and 70+ specialty journals. Getting formatting right for The BMJ requires understanding requirements that go beyond basic journal style — including specific structured abstract formats, mandatory reporting guideline checklists, and a distinctive patient involvement statement.
Structured Abstracts: The BMJ Format
The BMJ requires structured abstracts for original research, with specific subheadings that vary by article type. For original research articles, the required sections are: Objective, Design, Setting, Participants, Main outcome measures, Results, and Conclusions. The abstract length limit is 400 words for most research articles.
A common mistake is using IMRAD structure — standard at most journals — for a BMJ submission. The BMJ abstract format is purpose-built for clinical research and requires specific information about study setting and participant recruitment that IMRAD abstracts don't include. CheckMyManuscript validates that your abstract uses the correct subheadings for your article type.
Reporting Guidelines: Mandatory at The BMJ
The BMJ requires authors to submit a completed reporting guideline checklist alongside their manuscript. The required checklist depends on the study type:
- CONSORT — randomized controlled trials (with CONSORT extension for your trial type)
- STROBE — observational studies (cohort, case-control, cross-sectional)
- PRISMA — systematic reviews and meta-analyses
- CARE — case reports
- TRIPOD — prediction model studies
- STARD — diagnostic accuracy studies
The checklist must be submitted as a separate supplementary file with item numbers cross-referenced to page numbers in your manuscript. Submitting without the checklist or submitting an incomplete checklist is one of the most common desk rejection triggers at The BMJ. Checklist completion is verified before the manuscript reaches an editor's desk.
Patient and Public Involvement (PPI)
The BMJ requires all original research articles to include a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) statement. This section should describe whether patients or the public were involved in setting the research question, designing the study, recruiting participants, or interpreting the results. If PPI was not involved, you must explicitly state this and ideally explain why.
This requirement is distinctive to The BMJ and a small number of other clinical journals. Authors unfamiliar with PPI reporting requirements often omit this section entirely, which results in a pre-review revision request. "Patients were not involved" is an acceptable statement — the absence of any PPI statement is not.
Statistics and Data Transparency
The BMJ applies rigorous statistical standards. All studies must pre-specify their statistical analysis plan, and any deviation from pre-specified analyses must be clearly labeled as exploratory. The BMJ strongly encourages authors to share their statistical code alongside the data. For clinical trials, registration in an approved public registry before enrollment is required, with the registration number in the abstract.
The BMJ also participates in clinical trials data sharing — studies reporting clinical outcomes should commit to sharing patient-level data on reasonable request, declared in the data sharing statement. CheckMyManuscript validates your BMJ submission against all of these structural requirements before you enter the ScholarOne submission portal.
Also see: The Lancet submission checker | JAMA submission checker | Medical papers checker
BMJ journal checks
Structured abstract format
Validate BMJ-required structured abstract subheadings are present.
Reporting guideline compliance
Check CONSORT, STROBE, or PRISMA compliance depending on study type.
Ethics statement
Confirm ethics committee approval and patient consent declarations.
Author contributions (ICMJE)
Verify author contributions follow ICMJE criteria (conception, data, drafting, approval).
Conflict of interest
Check COI disclosure statement format meets BMJ requirements.
Word count
Validate manuscript word count against BMJ article type limits.
Checks relevant to this topic
Part of our 80+ automated checks
Structured abstract
All required subheadings present for BMJ article type.
Ethics approval
Ethics committee approval and consent statement.
Author contributions
ICMJE-compliant author contribution statement.
COI declaration
Conflict of interest disclosure for all authors.
The practical edge your peers already use
Across disciplines and career stages, researchers reduce bottlenecks and submit with confidence: clearer drafts, easier guideline compliance, and less back and forth with co‑authors and reviewers.
I use it to review my students' papers. It instantly highlights typos, missing references, and unclear sections, helping me focus my feedback on the quality of the research instead of surface errors.
Ilyass
Professor in Mechanical Engineering, ÉTS Montréal
I relied on it throughout my thesis to strengthen my writing. It suggested clearer phrasing, improved flow between sections, and ensured my references were complete before the final deadline.
Manon
Master's Student in Speech Therapy
I write research in both Portuguese and English, and it adapts perfectly to either language. It provided precise feedback in Portuguese, helping me maintain academic tone and consistency across my drafts.
Afonso
PhD Candidate, UFPE
It gave excellent advice on how to rephrase and present ideas more clearly and concisely. The suggestions helped me refine my arguments and make my research more impactful.
Félix
Postdoc Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology
A round of suggestions helped to generally refine the text of my paper and, moreover, to present some of its key points in a more focused form.
Oleg
Professor, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University
I use it to review my students' papers. It instantly highlights typos, missing references, and unclear sections, helping me focus my feedback on the quality of the research instead of surface errors.
Ilyass
Professor in Mechanical Engineering, ÉTS Montréal
I relied on it throughout my thesis to strengthen my writing. It suggested clearer phrasing, improved flow between sections, and ensured my references were complete before the final deadline.
Manon
Master's Student in Speech Therapy
I write research in both Portuguese and English, and it adapts perfectly to either language. It provided precise feedback in Portuguese, helping me maintain academic tone and consistency across my drafts.
Afonso
PhD Candidate, UFPE
It gave excellent advice on how to rephrase and present ideas more clearly and concisely. The suggestions helped me refine my arguments and make my research more impactful.
Félix
Postdoc Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology
A round of suggestions helped to generally refine the text of my paper and, moreover, to present some of its key points in a more focused form.
Oleg
Professor, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University
Frequently asked questions
BMJ requires CONSORT for randomized controlled trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, CARE for case reports, and AGREE for clinical guidelines. A completed checklist must be submitted as a supplementary file.
BMJ structured abstracts typically include: Objective, Design, Setting, Participants (or Population), Main outcome measures, Results, and Conclusions. The exact subheadings vary by article type. Check the BMJ Instructions for Authors for your specific submission type.
The BMJ (flagship journal) operates as a hybrid journal. BMJ Open is fully open access. Authors publishing in BMJ journals may be required to comply with their funder's open access mandate. BMJ supports both CC BY and CC BY-NC licensing.