About Respiratory Medicine Today

Objectives

Respiratory Medicine Today is a biannual, independent, peer reviewed journal on respiratory medicine written and refereed by senior doctors for Australian GPs, specialists and other health professionals. Its content is clinically focused, practical, evidence-based and well illustrated, designed to meet the needs of busy doctors.

Its aim is to provide doctors with practical reviews and clinical information that will assist them in reviewing and updating their knowledge in the field of respiratory medicine. The content is focused primarily on the needs of GPs.

Respiratory Medicine Today is subjected to the same thorough peer review process and high production standards applied to our flagship journal Medicine Today.

What is Respiratory MedicineToday about?

From the Editor-in-Chief and Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board

Respiratory conditions are the most commonly managed problems in general practice and, based on Australian Bureau of Statistics 2015 data, around seven million Australians have a chronic respiratory condition.

This journal aims to provide a wide range of easy-to-access and up-to-date clinically relevant articles from specialists in the respiratory field. We have lofty ambitions to cover the whole respiratory spectrum, rather than just concentrating on the most common diseases. 

I hope you find this journal useful in your practice, and welcome your feedback and suggestions for future topics you would like to see discussed. 

Professor Christine McDonald MB BS(Hons), PhD, FRACP, FThorSoc
Director of the Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Austin Health, and
Professor of Respiratory Medicine at The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic

Frequency

Respiratory Medicine Today is published twice a year.

Editorial independence

The editorial independence and high clinical standards held by Respiratory Medicine Today are of paramount importance to the publishers and are guarded rigorously. The entire content is subjected to a peer review process of the quality usually reserved for scientific (rather than review) publications.

To ensure Respiratory Medicine Today’s editorial content is totally independent, credible and accurate:

• the Editorial Advisory Board monitors the clinical standards and content of the journal
• members of the Editorial Advisory Board and senior consultants provide author recommendations
• all submitted articles undergo our thorough peer review process
• all authors are required to disclose any commercial or financial association that might be seen to be a conflict of interest, using the standard disclosure form of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest), and these disclosures are published at the end of each article
• articles that have any known input from pharmaceutical companies, public relations firms or other commercial entities are not accepted.

How we source content

Respiratory Medicine Today’s editorial content is focused on respiratory medicine, aimed primarily at the GP readership. Most of the content is commissioned in house after consultation with members of the Editorial Advisory Board and senior consultants. The authors of our articles are highly experienced, senior clinicians who are well recognised in their field of medicine.

The opinions expressed in the editorial content are those of the commissioned authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Editors, the Editorial Advisory Board or the publishers.

Peer review process

Based on the successful Medicine Today formula, every article published in Respiratory Medicine Today has undergone our rigorous peer review process to ensure the content is accurate, credible, up-to-date and independent. At least two specialists in the relevant field of medicine and one GP review each article before it is accepted for publication.

Reviewers provide instructive comments, suggestions and recommendations on the suitability for publication of each article. All feedback is sent to the authors, who may be required to revise the text or respond to specific comments before their article is accepted for publication.

The Editorial Advisory Board

Respiratory Medicine Today’s Editorial Advisory Board has a vital role in maintaining the journal’s high editorial standards. The list of Board members can be viewed here. The Board, led by the Chair and Editor-in-Chief, Professor Christine McDonald, has a major and active role in reviewing articles and providing suggestions for reviewers, authors and content. The Board also meets formally three times a year to discuss editorial and publishing issues.

Editorial content

Respiratory Medicine Today’s peer reviewed content covers a range of article types, including the following:

Features – In-depth reviews of practical clinical information on respiratory conditions, covering the diagnosis, investigation and/or management of a particular condition.

Perspectives – Shorter articles on specific respiratory medicine issues.

Case Reviews – Expert review of respiratory cases that present in general practice.

Focus on COVID-19 – Up-to-date reviews on the effects of COVID-19 on the respiratory tract.

Journal Watch – Brief summaries of research articles published in major international, produced by the NEJM Group, a division of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Letters

We would like to hear your opinions, suggestions and feedback. If you find a particular article helpful in your practice or have something to say about an article we have published, then submit a letter and we will consider it for publication. We are more likely to print short letters (no longer than 250 words), so please be succinct. You can post your letter to us (Medicine Today Pty Ltd, PO Box 1473, Neutral Bay NSW 2089, Australia) or submit your letter by completing the Contact Us form.