Dear Subscribers, Potential Authors & Reviewers of 'Music & Medicine',
'Music & Medicine' is published by the International Association for Music & Medicine (IAMM). Our editorial team ensures dissemination of high level research and practice, with articles reflecting the standards, quality, and integrity of our mission. Each submission is reviewed blindly by our Editorial Board comprised of doctors, nurses, music therapists and integrative music and medicine clinicians. Our aim is to promote the sharing and building of research and practice across a wide range of fields including but not strictly limited to music medicine, music therapy, arts medicine, performance arts medicine, music psychology, medical humanities, medical ethnomusicology, music cognition, and music neurology. The information below provides specific directions which can guide prospective authors on the terms of submission and the formatting of your electronic submissions. We believe this site provides ease of submission, and we are committed in helping you do so.
The Editors
Online Submissions
Registration and login are required to submit items online and to check the status of current submissions.
Already have a Username/Password for Music and Medicine?
Need a Username/Password?
Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
Music and Medicine is an international journal that offers an integrative forum for clinical practice and research of applied music in medical settings and allied institutions.
The Editors seek empirical research studies, clinical case reports, and applied models explicating theory, development, and practice across the health, behavioral, and neurosciences.
Music and Medicine emphasizes research practices that integrate music, music psychology, music cognition, music neurology, music therapy, and infant and early child development into medical practice and knowledge. The journal addresses research and clinical practices related to music psychotherapy and wellness practices inclusive of the health of musicians. Methodology will favor both quantitative and qualitative research outcomes.
Articles from a wide variety of perspectives including academic and practice forums are featured. Medical music perspectives from the neurosciences, clinical and integrative medicine, oncology, music therapy, psychology, infant stimulation, pain and palliative medicine, spiritual care, early intervention, nursing research, health research, and social work will be prominent.
Topics appropriate for the journal include, but are not limited to: Analgesia and Music Sedation; Brain Music Approaches; Cancer Care: Active and Receptive Music Approaches; Cardiology and Rhythm; Clinical Improvisation in Health and Disease; Dementia, Stroke and Music Memory; Environmental ICU Music; Infant Stimulation; Integrative Music Medicine; Medical Conditions and Treatment of Musicians; Medical Music Psychotherapy; Mood Disorders and Music Psychology; Music and Culture in Medicine; Music Health and Well Being; Music in Transition: NICU, Hospice to End of Life; Music in Surgery: Pre-op to post-op; Music in Traumatic Response and Injury; Neurologic Music Approaches; Pain and Palliative Medical Music Strategies; Psychosocial Music Interventions; Respiratory Music Advances: Asthma, CF, COPD; Song, Sound, and Resonance in Mind-Body Medicine; Stress Response and Music Relaxation; Vibration and Toning in Medicine.
Music and Medicine accepts the following types of contributions
- Full-Length Article; a research report (maximum of 4000 words including references, 120 references), with the following article structure: Introduction, Material and methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions.
- Brief Report/Clinical Reports; (maximum of 2000 words including references, 20 references), no specified article structure.
- Systematic Reviews/Meta-Analysis; (maximum of 6000 words, 200 references), with the following article structure: Objectives; Methods (Data sources); Results; Implications and Conclusions
- Letter to the Editor/Comment; (maximum of 1000 words, 20 references). A comment addresses a work previously published in Music and Medicine. No article structure. Letters to the editor and comments are not subjected to blind peer-review.
- Book Reviews (maximum of 1000 words)
Each submission should consist of a title page and a main document file. The title page should include: (i) manuscript title and all author names, degrees, affiliations, mailing addresses, and e-mail addresses for correspondence, (ii) a short title (running head), (iii) a onesentence biographical statement for each author, listing credentials and one or multiple places of affiliation, (iv) grant or financial support information and/or a conflict of interest statement as well as (v) any acknowledgments.
The main document file should be single-spaced, uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining; includes tables, figures, notes, and references. Every effort should be made by the author to see that the main document file contains no clues as to the author's identity: Information pertaining to the identity of the author or institutional affiliation should be listed as endnotes on a separate page.
On the first page should be the title, a nonstructured abstract (maximum 200 words), and 4-5 keywords.
In-text reference citations should be identified by numbers in square brackets in order of appearance.
A complete, numbered listing of references should be provided at the end of the article. Reference listings should be in sequence in the order they are cited in the text. Journal names should be abbreviated as specified by the National Library of Medicine. References should not include any unpublished observations or personal communications. See sample formats below.
Journal article, 6 authors or less: 1. Armstrong DD. Rett syndrome neuropathology review 2000. Brain Dev. 2000; 19: 79-85. OR 2. Schoni MH, Casaulta-Aebischer C, Martinet LV, Kim S, Lee TJ, Leem J. Nutrition and lung function in cystic fibrosis patients: A brief review. Clin Nutr. 2001: 23(1): S72-S76.
Journal article, more than 6 authors (list first 3 authors + “et al.”): 1. Crews DW, Gartska WR, Meyer B, et al. The physiology of the garter snake: Analysis and updates.Sci Am. 1980;245:158- 159.
Journal article published online (hyperlink or DOI): 1. Blackburn TA. Updating autologous chondrocyte implantation knee rehabilitation. Nature. 2007;235:430-433. Available at: http://provide-full-link.com. Accessed January 7, 2008. OR 2. Harrison CL, Schmidt PQ, Jones JD. Aspirin compared with acetaminophen for relief of headache [published online March 21, 2008]. J Curr Clin. doi:10.1038.nm10244.
Book: 1. Voet D, Voet JG. The Science of Biochemistry. 3rd ed. New York, NY: J Wiley; 1990.
Chapter in a book: 1. Kuret JA, Murad F. Adenohypophyseal hormones. In: Gilman AG, Taylor P, eds. The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. 8th ed. Orlando, FL: Grune & Stratton; 1976:1334-1360.
Paper presented at a conference: 1. Eisenberg J. Market forces and physician workforce reform: Why they may not work. Paper presented at: Annual Meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges; October 28, 1995; Washington, DC.
Article published online: 1. Blackburn TA. Updating autologous chondrocyte implantation knee rehabilitation. Nature. 2007;235:430-433. Available at: http://provide-full-link.com. Accessed January 7, 2008. OR 2. Harrison CL, Schmidt PQ, Jones JD. Aspirin compared with acetaminophen for relief of headache [published online March 21, 2008]. J Curr Clin. doi:10.1038.nm10244.
Web site: 1. FDA resources page. Food and Drug Administration Web site. Available at: http://provide-full-link.com. Accessed June 23, 2000.
Include author/s, editor(s) first and last name(s), title of book & ISBN, year and place of publication, publisher & number of pages and the price (web-based, paperback or hard cover). The book/media/music/web review should be no longer than 1000 words, providing readers with an account overview of the work in an informative way. The opinion of the reviewer is important and should be an informed voice inclusive of a critical discussion related to the work itself as well as issues or former writings relevant to the work's intention. The review should follow the AMA Style Guidelines. The review should address Music and Medicine’s readership to include the purpose and intended audience of the work as well as the background (training & history) of the author, what the work confirms and/or to what is already known on the topic, the intentions and goals objectives of the work and if they are achieved with clarity. It might be useful to compare the work with other works of a similar genre, and to speculate on reasons of why this work was developed. How might the next book written on the topic include missed points of the current work? What themes were most highlighted and how did the discussions provided build on ideas known in the literature already. Finally, why or why not would you recommend this work and what is the take away message? End the review with: First and last name & institutional affiliation of reviewer and a brief biographical note inclusive of the reviewer's credentials, place of work and interests is required.
The 'music' of the article should be described in full detail. This includes but is not limited to defining aspects of the music in terms of whether it was: live or recorded, pre-composed or improvised, played or sung, and the researchers' decision-making processes related to the music selected. Include music titles, the composer and edition/version/sound track and year it was recorded. If live music is used, describe the name and model of the musical instruments used and how the music was played (modality, style, dynamic, timbre etc) solo or ensemble. Readers should understand how the music intervention was set up: patient preferred recording brought into therapy or research, or spontaneous favorite song (known) or co-created in the moment. Music medicine intervention descriptions should provide details about how and why the music was selected and how it was incorporated into treatment interventions. Appendices and links in the text to audio recordings of music are encouraged; consent/permission is required.
Artwork includes charts and graphs, maps, photographs, figures, and line art. Images should be clear and neat, and they should be submitted in the original format in which they were created (JPG, TIFF, or EPS; Microsoft Application Files are acceptable for line art). Any scanned images should be set at 1200 dpi for line art and 300 dpi for color or grayscale. There is no fee for color images. Illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end and are numbered in the order they appear in text. Each table and figure submitted must be cited within the article. Tables should present supporting data in a clear and unambiguous manner.
Material taken directly from a copyrighted source should be clearly identified, and the copyright holder’s written permission to reproduce it must be submitted in a separate file. Note: Obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material is the author's responsibility, as is payment of any fees the copyright holder may request. Identifiable audio and visual recordings and images of people should be accompanied by a signed release granting permission for their likeness to be reproduced in an article. (In children's cases, the release form must be signed by a parent or guardian.)
It is the author’s responsibility to disclose any potential conflict of interest regarding the manuscript. Additionally, any identifying information regarding a patient should be removed from the manuscript, or informed consent from the patient will be required.
Music and Medicine is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and subscribes to the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal
Manuscripts are submitted thought the journal website submission system (mmd.iammonline.com). Authors need to indicate the type of submission and complete the submission checklist.
If you article considered for publication in Music and Medicine includes audio or video material, please contact the production editor. We are able to handle all common file formats and will make sure that your material is available for our readers.
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.