Please ensure that anything you submit to the BMJ conforms to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals.

We have found that it is easiest for everyone if all the information we require (see below) is contained in your manuscript. Therefore the manuscript file that you attach should include:

• Title - All manuscripts
• Names, addresses, and positions of all authors plus email address for corresponding author - All manuscripts
• Copyright - All manuscripts - A statement in the manuscript that “The Corresponding Author has the right to grant on behalf of all authors and does grant on behalf of all authors, an exclusive licence (or non exclusive for government employees) on a worldwide basis to the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, and its Licensees to permit this article (if accepted) to be published in BMJ editions and any other BMJPGL products and to exploit all subsidiary rights, as set out in our licence (bmj.com/advice/copyright.shtml).”  We no longer need to see a hard copy of the signed form.
• A competing interest statement - All manuscripts- A statement in the manuscript describing the interests of all authors or a declaration in the manuscript that "All authors declare that the answer to the questions on your competing interest form are all No and therefore have nothing to declare". We no longer need to see a hard copy of the signed form.
• Details of contributors and the name of the guarantor - All original research articles
• Signed patient consent form. Publication of any personal information about a patient in the BMJ, for example in a case report or clinical photograph, will normally require the signed consent of the patient. Please download and print the BMJ's consent form to give to the patient and then send to us. You can get the form to us by post, or scan it and send it as an email attachment or upload it at our online editorial office as a supplemental file to your article.
• Details of ethics approval (or a statement that it was not required) - All original research articles
• Details of funding - All original research articles
• Description of the study sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication (see further advice below) - All original research articles
• Statement of the independence of researchers from funders  - All original research articles
• If you are submitting a randomised controlled trial please send with your manuscript the following:
• a checklist and flowchart in accordance with the CONSORT guidelines.  Please submit the checklist as a supplementary file and the flowchart as figure 1 in the manuscript.
• the trial protocol, submitted as a supplementary file. We do not intend to publish this but we do need it to appraise and peer review your paper.
• the registration number of the trial and the name of the trial registry. Please add these to the last line of your paper’s structured abstract. The BMJ’s criteria for a suitable public trial registry are: free to access, searchable, and identifies trials with a unique number; registration is free or has minimal cost; registered information is validated; registered entry includes details to identify the trial and investigator and includes the status of the trial; and the research question, methodology, intervention, funding, and sponsorship must all be disclosed.
• If you are submitting
• a systematic review please follow the QUOROM guidelines 
• a meta-analysis of observational studies please follow the MOOSE guidelines
• a study of diagnostic accuracy please follow the STARD guidelines
• an observational study please follow the STROBE guidelines
• a health economics paper please follow our health economics checklist and note that we do not usually consider economic evaluations of clinical or health services research studies unless we have already published or are currently considering those primary studies
• a clinical guidelines paper we would encourage you to follow the GRADE guidance for grading evidence, but will not insist on this

If any of this information (except GRADE) is missing we will require it before we can send your paper for external review.

These and other reporting guidelines are collected together in one place: the website of the EQUATOR Network. This network seeks to improve the quality of scientific publications by promoting transparent and accurate reporting of health research.

Role of the funder in the research process

All sources of funding should be declared under the heading "Funding" at the end of the text. Authors must describe the role of the study sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the authors’ work was independent of the funders (the funding source had no involvement), the authors should so state.

Role of professional medical writers in peer-reviewed publications

Please ensure that you follow the guidelines by the European Medical Writers' Association on the role of medical writers. The guidelines emphasise the importance of respecting widely recognised authorship criteria, and in particular of ensuring that all people listed as named authors have full control of the content of articles. The role of professional medical writers must be transparent. Please name any professional medical writer among the list of contributors to any article for the BMJ (not only original research articles), and specify in the formal funding statement for the article who paid the writer. Writers and authors must have access to relevant data while writing articles. Medical writers have professional responsibilities to ensure that the articles they write are scientifically valid and are written in accordance with generally accepted ethical standards. Please see:

Reporting clinical trials conducted by pharmaceutical companies

Please ensure that clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical companies follow the guidelines on good publication practice.

These guidelines aim to ensure that such trials are published in a responsible and ethical manner. The guidelines cover companies’ responsibility to endeavour to publish results of all studies, companies’ relations with investigators, measures to prevent redundant or premature publication, methods to improve trial identification and the role of professional medical writers.

Defining ethnicity
Ethnicity and culture are socially determined variables of limited use in biological research, though they are useful in health services research. All the variables are confounded by socioeconomic status.

Try to use accurate descriptions of race, ethnicity, and culture rather than catch all terms in common use. In the methods section of research articles describe the logic behind any ethnic groupings used.

It is best to present a range of information including:

• genetic differences
• self assigned ethnicity, using nationally agreed guidelines
• observer assigned ethnicity
• country or area of birth (participant's own, or parents' or grandparents' if applicable)
• years in country of residence
• religion.