Author guidelines

Last revision: August 2025
 

1. About the journal

The Australian Journal of General Practice (AJGP) aims to provide relevant, evidence-based, clearly articulated information to Australian general practitioners (GPs) to assist them in providing the highest quality patient care, applicable to the varied geographic and social contexts in which GPs work and to all GP roles as clinician, researcher, educator, practice team member and opinion leader. All articles are subject to peer review before they are accepted for publication. The journal is indexed in MEDLINE, Index Medicus and Science Citation Index Expanded.

The Journal was established in 1956 as the Annals of General Practice. In 1971 the Journal was retitled Australian Family Physician (AFP). In 2018 the Journal was renamed Australian Journal of General Practice (AJGP).

AJGP is a member, and subscribes to the principles, of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and to those of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

AJGP does not charge author, editorial or publication fees. All articles are available online free of charge. In addition, Fellows and members of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) receive a published hard copy of each issue.

2. Manuscript categories and requirements

Manuscript requirements for accepted categories are outlined below. We have made these requirements as flexible as possible and will always try to accommodate further adjustments to enable publication.
 
We strongly encourage authorship from general practitioners (GPs), especially those with a specific interest in a particular topic. We value author groups that comprise GPs with other specialists, to ensure that both content expertise and the GP perspective are expressed.

2.1 Clinical articles

• Description – Evidence-based articles relating to the assessment and/or management of specific clinical problems relevant to general practice
• Structure – Background/Introduction, Objective, Discussion, Conclusion
• Word limit – 1500 words maximum, excluding abstract, tables, boxes, figures and references
• Abstract – 150 words maximum, structured under the headings: Background, Objective, Discussion
• References – 20 maximum
• Figures/tables/images – 5 maximum
• Key points – 5 salient points, each one line maximum in length

2.2 Clinical case studies

• Description – Clinical cases that demonstrate important principles of general practice. AJGP encourages case studies addressing common and important issues routinely encountered in general practice, as well as rare conditions if their identification by GPs is relevant. We also welcome cases that include or reflect upon any errors or omissions in care, provided anonymity is ensured.
• Structure – We are flexible according to the needs of the case, clinical case studies should ideally be presented as a short description of the clinical presentation followed by a series of relevant questions and their answers; please see published examples on the AJGP website. The following format is also acceptable:
  • Title – concise and descriptive
  • Introduction – include rationale for reporting the case
  • Case presentation – history, examination, investigations, differential, management
  • Discussion – clinical significance, diagnostic and management challenges
  • Learning points
• Word limit – 750 words maximum, excluding tables, boxes, figures and references
• Abstract – not required
• References – 10 maximum
• Patient consent – Written confirmation about obtaining patient consent is to be added to the covering letter. Before submitting, ensure informed consent is obtained from patients or their legal representative for any patient material discussed or depicted in any manuscript submitted to AJGP. Further detail about RACGP patient consent forms can be found in section 4.7.
• Figures/tables/images – 5 maximum.

2.3 Professional articles

• Description – Evidence-based articles relating to non-clinical topics relevant to general practice (eg practice management, medico-legal issues, medical ethics, patient safety, healthcare systems and service delivery, clinical workforce and medical education)
• Structure – Background/Introduction, Objective, Discussion, Conclusion (summary of critical issues including demonstrating relevance to general practice)
• Word limit – 1500 words maximum, excluding abstract, tables, boxes, figures and references.
• Abstract – 150 words maximum, structured under the headings: Background, Objective, Discussion
• References – 20 maximum
• Figures/tables/images – 5 maximum
• Key points – 5 salient points, each one line maximum in length

2.4 Viewpoint articles

• Description – Clearly argued opinion, supported by appropriate references, discussing an important and relevant topic for general practice. The article must be presented in a scholarly framework.
• Word limit – 750 words maximum; excluding tables, boxes, figures and references
• Abstract – nil
• References – 10 maximum
• Figures/tables/images – 2 maximum

2.5 Letters to the editor/research letters

• Description – A brief discussion considering a recently published article in AJGP or a current, important and relevant topic for general practice.
• Research letter – a short report on a research topic or study that might include a pilot study, preliminary findings, or otherwise be best suited to a shorter communication. The article must be presented in a scholarly framework.
• Word limit – 350 words maximum; excluding references
• Abstract – nil
• References – 5 maximum

2.6 Research articles

The scope for research articles may include quantitative, qualitative, protocols, systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Description – Reports of high-quality, original research relevant to general practice

• Word limit –2000 words maximum, excluding abstract, tables, boxes, figures, checklist and references
• Abstract – 150 words maximum, structured under the headings: Background and objective, Methods, Results, Discussion
• Structure – IMRAD format is required. This includes a clear statement of the aim/hypothesis in the last paragraph of the introduction; clear, evidence- based and referenced documentation of the methodology; HREC approval confirmation and document number in the last paragraph of the methods; a review of the limitations at the end of the discussion and a concluding statement that matches the scope of the work.
• References – 30 maximum
• Figures/tables/images – 5 maximum
• Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) documentation – mandatory requirement except for systematic reviews, meta-analyses and other audit/data analyses that do not require HREC approval by the relevant health service.
• Clinical trials – all articles reporting any form of clinical trial must include the registration number with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry.

2.6.1 Qualitative research

• All qualitative research submissions to AJGP require a formal report addressing the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) at the time of submission.
• The 21-item standard is outlined at http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/srqr/ and the SRQR checklist is available to download. 
• Provide your response to each of the 21 standards in a four-column table, with the first column being the standard number, the second being the description of the standard, the third a brief description of how you have met the standard or how the standard does not apply and the fourth column noting the page and line number in the manuscript where the standard has been detailed.
• The document tabulating your response to each of the standards is to be uploaded to ScholarOne as a stand-alone document and not to be included in other documentation or the manuscript.
• Please note that AJGP may elect to publish your tabular response.

2.6.2 Protocol research

• Protocol research submissions require a plan for a proposed research study, outlining the objectives of the study, hypotheses to be tested, and methodology and analyses to be used. Authors must clearly explain why their protocol is sufficiently important, novel or ground-breaking to justify publication. HREC approval must be demonstrated where applicable.

2.6.3 Questionnaire research

• All questionnaire research submissions to AJGP require a formal report addressing the ‘Critical appraisal checklist for a questionnaire study’ at the time of submission.
• The ‘Critical appraisal checklist for a questionnaire study’ is noted as ‘Table E’ located online at www.bmj.com/content/328/7451/1312/related#e (from Boynton Petra M, Greenhalgh T. Selecting, designing, and developing your questionnaire BMJ 2004;328:1312. doi: 10.1136/bmj.328.7451.1312)
• Authors should provide a response to each of the standards in a four-column table, with the first column being the standard number, the second being the description of the standard, the third a brief description of how the standard has been met or how the standard does not apply and the fourth column noting the page and line number in the manuscript where the standard has been detailed.
• The document tabulating the authors’ response to each of the standards is to be uploaded to ScholarOne as a standalone document and not to be included in other documentation or the manuscript.
• Please note that AJGP may elect to publish authors’ tabular responses.

2.7 Book reviews

• Description – Your book review should be an independent, critical analysis of the book’s worth. Do not focus unduly on minor imperfections (eg misplaced commas), but nor should you hesitate to draw attention to major editorial problems or errors of fact or interpretation. If, as reviewer, you are on sufficiently familiar terms with the author(s) or publisher that your review has the potential to be compromised, or your relationship could be perceived as representing a conflict of interest, you should decline the opportunity to review. All reviews are subject to editing for substance, length, clarity and conformity with AJGP style.
• Structure – Your book review should include the following: (headings for these are not required):
  • at start of the review: full title of text, author(s)/editor(s), publisher, place and year of publication, ISBN
  • summary of the main content of the text
  • assessment of its relevance to general practice
  • consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of the text’s structure, research, analyses and propositions (Do the authors achieve what they set out to do?)
  • consideration of how the text compares to other titles and research in the area of scholarship, including any previous editions of the same text
  • at end of the review: reviewer name, position(s) and qualifications.
• Word limit – minimum of 450 words and a maximum of 850 words in length

2.8 Beyond the clinic door

We want to recognise and share aspects of what it means to be a GP. ‘Beyond the clinic door’ provides the opportunity for our readers to submit a variety of article types. We are very open to hearing what you want to say -- it may be in the form of prose, poetry or something personal to share.
 
‘Beyond the clinic door’ submissions can be on any topic that is important to you, and that you think your colleagues – our readership – might find interesting. Peer review will always occur, and this will usually be done by one or more of the medical editors at the AJGP, with external review as deemed appropriate.

3. Manuscript style

3.1 Manuscript title

The title length is limited to 20 words, to ensure focus and brevity. Please do not include footnotes.

3.2 Manuscript text

Manuscripts should follow internationally accepted, scholarly academic style. In most circumstances, write in the third person, past tense.
This includes:

• use generic names when referring to medicines; do not use brand or trade names, do not capitalise and check spelling to ensure correct to avoid misinterpretation
• use acronyms and abbreviations sparingly; spell out all acronyms and abbreviations in full at the first reference
• clearly indicate headings and subheadings; do not use all capitals in headings
• label all appendices, tables, boxes and figures and include references to the appendices, tables, boxes and figures in numerical order in the text
• submit appendices, tables, boxes and figures in an editable form in portrait orientation not exceeding one page per table, box or figure
• ensure all medical claims and statements are referenced
• Written confirmation about obtaining patient consent is to be added to the covering letter. Before submitting, ensure informed consent is obtained from patients or their legal representative for any patient material discussed or depicted in any manuscript submitted to AJGP. 
• all patient information must be de-identified.

3.3 Tables, boxes and figures

Tables, boxes, images, figures and illustrations are used to support the text without duplicating its content. Each must be numbered and have an in-text reference and a caption. Tables, boxes and figures must not exceed one A4 page in portrait orientation at 8 point standard font. Tables, boxes and figures should be supplied in an editable file format so they can be formatted correctly for publication.

Graphs, flowcharts and algorithms should be supplied in their native form (eg Microsoft Excel). If native files cannot be supplied, please provide numeric data for graphs in the event they need to be redrawn. Images that include the author’s own text should be supplied in an editable format.

A copy of written permission from the copyright holder, if required, must be provided for all tables, boxes, images, figures or illustrations (including any appendices) that have been reproduced or adapted from copyrighted sources, including online material (refer to Section 4.4 ‘Permissions’ for further details).

3.4 References

AJGP uses Vancouver referencing style. Please submit articles referenced in standard Vancouver style.

Articles in preparation or submitted for publication must not be included in the reference list, but can be mentioned in the text as ‘unpublished data’ with a list of authors (or initials if the authors are co-authors of the present work). Written permission from the authors of any unpublished data or personal communications must be provided.

Linked reference fields (eg EndNote codes) must be removed before manuscript submission. In-text reference numbers should be superscript and in numerical order. Numbering of additional references cited in tables, boxes and figures should continue from the last reference in the main body of the article, if not already cited. For example, if the last reference in the article is number 20, any additional references in tables, boxes and figures should continue as 21, 22, etc, if not already cited in the main body of the article.

4. Manuscript submission

All manuscripts are submitted in electronic format via the ScholarOne manuscript website portal (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ajgp).

4.1 Title page

Upload the title page as a separate document in Scholar One; this helps facilitate the peer review process.
The title page must contain:

• the title of the article
• a list of all authors in publication order and each author’s formal qualifications (postnominals), current position(s) and affiliation(s)
• contact details of the designated corresponding author
• competing interest statement (refer to Section 4.6)
• funding statement (refer to Section 4.6)
• acknowledgements, if applicable
• word count (excluding abstract, tables, boxes, figures and references).

4.2 Covering letter

The covering letter is a direct communication to the Journal editor and provides a unique opportunity to demonstrate succinctly why the article is best published in AJGP.  If appropriate, written confirmation about obtaining patient consent is to be added to the covering letter.

4.3 Assignment of copyright

Authors must complete a standard ‘Assignment of copyright and Health information authorisation’ form. This form must list all tables, figures, boxes and any appendices. This can be found on the Scholar One website.

4.4 Permissions

On the ‘Assignment of copyright and Health information authorisation’ form, authors must indicate whether tables, boxes, figures and appendices are:

• are original creations
• contain information taken from published sources
• are reproduced or adapted from published sources.

It is the responsibility of the author to obtain permissions from the appropriate copyright holders to reproduce or adapt all published (or otherwise copyright) material. The copyright holder’s permission statement must be provided at the time of manuscript submission, with a copy of the source material. Refer to Section 8 for information about permission to reproduce content from an AJGP article.

4.5 Author contributions

Authors must meet all of the following four criteria, as outlined in the ICMJE recommendations:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Author contribution statements and acknowledgements in research papers should state clearly and specifically whether, and to what extent, the authors used AI technology, such as ChatGPT, in the preparation of their manuscript and analysis. The authors should also indicate which large language models were used. Please refer to section 4.8 for more information about declaring AI usage. 

Ghost authorship is not permitted by AJGP. All contributors who fulfil the ICMJE criteria for authorship must be listed as authors.

Individuals who have assisted with writing the manuscript (eg medical writers, professional editors) must be named in an acknowledgement section, and any competing interests they have must be declared (refer to Section 4.6).

Other contributors who do not meet authorship requirements can be included in an acknowledgement section and their contribution specified. Permission to acknowledge is required from those who are named. The contribution of each listed author must be outlined in the cover letter.

4.6 Disclosure of funding arrangements and/or conflict of interests

ALL contributing authors must complete the ‘ICMJE form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest’ available on the Scholar One Manuscripts site.

Declarations on funding and financial arrangements must also be made in sections 2 and 3 of the ICMJE form.

Authors must also include a ‘conflict of interest’ statement in their title page. The statement should specify board memberships of, affiliations with, and/or funding/honoraria from pharmaceutical or other for-profit organisations. Sponsorship or funding arrangements relating to the authors’ work must be disclosed.

If a commercial organisation has initiated or significantly contributed to the writing of the article, the organisation must be identified. The ‘conflict of interest’ and funding statements must include any interests and potential conflicts identified in the ICMJE form. If there are no conflict of interests and no funding, authors should nevertheless include a statement of ‘None’.

When conflict of interests and funding are indicated as present, authors must include in their covering letter the following statement: ‘I/we had full access to all relevant data in this study, and supporting sources had no involvement in data analysis and interpretation, or in the writing of the article’.

While declared conflict of interests and funding do not automatically exclude an article from publication, articles with declarations other than ‘none’ may be referred to the AJGP Editorial Board to further scrutinise whether such conflict of interests and funding might have compromised the integrity of the article.

Articles that have been commissioned or funded by a commercial company or organisation may be rejected if the editors perceive that content has been unduly influenced by the interests of the commissioning or funding company or organisation. This includes articles written by paid employees of commercial companies or organisations.

4.7 Obtaining patient consent
 

Ensure informed consent is obtained from patients or their legal representative for any patient material discussed or depicted in any manuscript submitted to AJGP. The RACGP’s ‘Patient consent’ form provides a template for ensuring informed consent and must be completed and retained by the author and the patient or their legal representative. Authors must not supply these forms to AJGP unless directed. Rather, please make note in your covering letter about obtaining patient consent. This requirement applies whether or not clinical photographs are used. Forms are available on the ScholarOne Manuscripts website. All patient information must be de-identified.

4.8 AJGP's position on the use of artificial intelligence (AI)

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT or other large language models in research publications is expanding rapidly. The attribution of authorship carries accountability for the work, and currently AI models do not satisfy our criteria for authorship. As non-legal entities, AI cannot assert the presence or absence of conflicts of interest nor manage copyright and license agreements.
 
In line with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the AJGP will consider submissions where AI technologies have been used. Peer reviewers must not upload papers under review into any AI tools, but may use AI to improve language and word processing, but this must be declared.

4.8.1 Declaration of AI usage

If AI technology has been used in the drafting of a submission, in any way at all (including images), an author should clearly state this to our Editorial team at the time of submission by adding this detail to their cover letter. Editors will then consider the suitability of AI use outlined. Authors remain entirely responsible for the content of submissions to AJGP.

 
All papers published in AJGP will include a statement that:
 
The authors confirm that there was no use of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technology for assisting in the writing or editing of the manuscript and no images were manipulated using AI. 
 
OR
 
The authors advise that there was use of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technology for assisting in the writing or editing of the manuscript, and accept full responsibility for all content. Details on how AI was used have been declared to the Editors.

5. Peer review and acceptance

Acceptance of manuscripts for publication is based on quality, originality and relevance for a general practitioner readership.

Articles submitted to AJGP are subject to peer review, which may consist of more than one round.

AJGP editors make the final decisions on acceptance or rejection. The editors reserve the right to reject any manuscript without peer review if it is not considered relevant to general practice or is otherwise unsuitable for publication in AJGP.

AJGP reserves the right to use plagiarism detection software. By submitting a manuscript, the authors accept that it may be screened against previously published works. AJGP processes are informed by the COPE guidelines for managing cases of suspected plagiarism (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts).

5.1 AJGP publication process (including peer review)

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5.2 Responding to peer reviewers’ comments

Authors must provide a point-by-point explanation detailing how they have responded to each of the peer reviewers’ comments in a table with each item numbered. The revised manuscript must be submitted as a ‘track changes’ version, plus a ‘clean copy’ version with all changes accepted.

5.3 Post-acceptance

All accepted manuscripts are subject to editing for length, clarity and conformity with AJGP style.

A PDF proof of the final manuscript of accepted articles will usually be sent to the corresponding author before publication and must be returned by the date requested.

It is the authors responsibility to carefully check the final proof and ensure that no mistakes have inadvertently occurred in the production process, especially in regard to numbers and statistics in tables, or investigation results and medication doses.

Please note that AJGP reserves the right to rescind or withdraw any manuscript at any time, including after publication, if undeclared concerns with authorship, conflicts of interest, plagiarism or content veracity and accuracy arise.

6. Appeals

The AJGP complaints and appeals process is informed by the COPE guidelines. In the first instance, concerns should be directed to the Editor in Chief at AJGP@racgp.org.au

7. Permissions post-publication

Permission to reproduce all or part of any AJGP article must be obtained by emailing permissions@racgp.org.au

Further details are available at https://www1.racgp.org.au/ajgp/about-the-journal