About NAM Perspectives

The National Academy of Medicine’s NAM Perspectives periodical provides a venue for leading health, medical, science, and policy experts to reflect on issues and opportunities important to the advancement of the NAM’s mission. NAM Perspectives’ ISSN is 2578-6865.

Papers published in NAM Perspectives are individually authored and do not reflect consensus positions of the NAM, the National Academies, or the authors’ organizations. Papers published in NAM Perspectives are not reports of the National Academies. All submissions to NAM Perspectives should be accessible to a broad audience.

NAM Perspectives publishes two types of papers: Commentaries and Discussion Papers.

Commentaries are op-ed length papers on topical issues of prominence to health, medicine, biomedical science, and related policy. Their aim is to describe the key elements shaping an issue, succinctly summarize the nature of the evidence base, and offer a distinct and clear viewpoint on strategies and priorities. They may present illustrative experiences or anecdotes. Generally, Commentaries are undertaken by invitation or agreement of the NAM, authored by less than 5 authors, are around 1,500 words, and can include up to approximately 5 supportive references.

Discussion Papers are article-length reviews of issues of prominence or emerging prominence to health, medicine, biomedical science, and related policy. Their aim is to define and fully describe the key elements shaping an issue, summarize and assess the nature of the evidence base, and present a strategy or priority options for addressing the issue. Any opinions or anecdotal information shared must be consistent with the evidence base. Generally, Discussion Papers are undertaken by invitation or agreement of the NAM, may have an unlimited number of authors, are between approximately 2,500 and 10,000 words in length, and may include as many references as are reasonable and necessary to support a nuanced argument. All discussion papers published in NAM Perspectives undergo external, single-blind peer review.

NAM Perspectives Editorial Board Members

• Victor Dzau, MD – President, National Academy of Medicine
• Michael McGinnis, MD, MA, MPP – Executive Officer, National Academy of Medicine
• Kimber Bogard, PhD – Deputy Executive Officer for Programs, National Academy of Medicine
• Samantha Chao – Associate Executive Director, Health and Medicine Division, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
• Gregg Margolis, PhD – Director, Fellowships Program, National Academy of Medicine
• Se Kim, PhD – Director, Membership and Governance, National Academy of Medicine

To contact NAM Perspectives staff, please email [email protected].

Information for Authors

Traditionally, papers published in NAM Perspectives relate to ongoing activities of the NAM or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), but NAM Perspectives will consider external submissions with relevance to an issue of importance to the NAM’s mission. All submissions to NAM Perspectives must be in English, and NAM Perspectives publishes in English only.

To submit a Commentary for consideration by the NAM Perspectives Editorial Board, email a draft following this format to [email protected]. A staff member will be in touch in 21 business days. Submissions must follow NAM Perspectives formatting or will be returned to the submitter.

If you are interested in submitting a Discussion Paper, you must first submit a concept (abstract and supporting information) for review by the NAM Perspectives Editorial Board. Please complete this form, and a staff member will be in touch in 21 business days. After concept approval, please submit a draft following this format to [email protected].

All authors are required to complete the ICMJE Conflict of Interest form, which discloses financial and non-financial conflicts of interest. All conflicts disclosed are published in the end matter of all NAM Perspectives manuscripts. NAM Perspectives utilizes iThenticate on all manuscript drafts to ensure integrity and detect plagiarism.

Access the NAM Perspectives style guide, paper templates, and other helpful material by visiting the author toolkit.

Submission and Review Process

After a Commentary draft or a Discussion Paper concept is submitted to the NAM Perspectives Managing Editor, the review process begins. Review of Commentaries is conducted by the Editorial Board and staff of NAM Perspectives. Commentaries are reviewed for appropriateness, strength of argument, and novelty of argument. Submitted drafts are also reviewed in tandem with conflict of interest forms submitted by the authors to ensure that the authorship is appropriately balanced. Any financial or other conflicts of interests will be disclosed within the manuscript. Commentaries do not undergo external peer review.

Discussion Papers undergo two stages of review: 1) concept review and 2) external peer review. At the concept review stage, an abstract and supporting information is reviewed by the Editorial Board and staff of NAM Perspectives for appropriateness, novelty of argument, state of the evidence base, and composition of authorship. After a concept is approved, the Managing Editor will invite submission of a complete draft. The paper then undergoes external peer review. NAM Perspectives staff will secure 2-4 external peer reviewers, depending on the length and complexity of the manuscript. NAM Perspectives staff will ensure that peer reviewers have relevant expertise and are appropriately balanced to provide constructive comments. The process is single-blind, in that authors do not know the identity of reviewers, but reviewers know the identity of authors. NAM Perspectives staff collect and anonymize comments from peer reviewers and distribute them to authors for incorporation. Commentaries and Discussion Papers accepted for publication undergo professional copyediting facilitated by the NAM.

Research Misconduct and Ethics

NAM Perspectives‘ approach to handling potential research misconduct closely mirrors the approach outlined by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

NAM Perspectives expects that all submissions are free of fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism as defined by the US Office of Research Integrity. In cases of suspected or alleged misconduct, NAM Perspectives follows the recommended procedures from COPE.

NAM Perspectives utilizes iThenticate to screen manuscripts for potential text duplication. NAM Perspectives will also evaluate and investigate issues that are brought to our direct attention and may request additional data from authors. NAM Perspectives may discuss these concerns with the Editorial Board or with the authors.

Authors must place direct quotes or excerpts in quotation marks and must identify the original source reference(s). For overlapping passages that aren’t verbatim, authors must include the original source reference(s).

Corrections and Retractions

Any concerns about the accuracy of manuscripts published by NAM Perspectives should be directed to [email protected]. The Managing Editor will alert the Editorial Board to these concerns. The Editorial Board maintains final decision-making power about editorial corrections or retractions.

Should the occasion arise that a manuscript published by NAM Perspectives requires correction or must be retracted, the web page that contains the HTML version of the manuscript and the PDF version of the manuscript will both be clearly marked as corrected or retracted.

For corrections, the corrections will be marked clearly, on the original web page where the manuscript was published, in track changes or explained narratively, depending on what allows for better readability of the manuscript.

For retractions, depending on the severity of the errors contained within the original manuscript, the Editorial Board will decide whether a full retraction, a retraction with replacement, or a retraction with a republication are necessary. In any case, the web page on which the original article was published will be clearly marked and, if warranted, clearly labeled with directions to access the new or replacement manuscript.