Any medical or dental educator or learner may submit materials to be considered for publication in MedEdPORTAL. Authors are strongly encouraged to read the following information prior to initiating the online submission form. Reviewing and adhering to the following information prior to starting the submission will strengthen the submission and increase the likelihood that it will be accepted.

Submission to Publication Process [Top of Page]

The MedEdPORTAL submission to publication process and timeline is as follows:

Submission: All submitting authors must complete the online MedEdPORTAL submission form located on the MedEdPORTAL website menu bar labeled Submit Resource. The information collected on the form is used, in part, by reviewers as they evaluate the submission. Reviewers will be interested in both the quantity and quality of information that is provided. The submission form should be considered a mechanism to help the author(s) make a compelling case for how their submission meets the MedEdPORTAL standards (see above).

A sample submission form (pdf document) is available for download. The document lists all the questions and fields found on the MedEdPORTAL web based submission form along with instructions for completing the questions. The form was developed to assist authors with compiling the necessary information prior to actually starting the MedEdPORTAL submission form online.

Screening: All submitted items are first screened by MedEdPORTAL staff to ensure they meet the minimal requirements and do not violate any copyright or HIPAA (patient privacy rights) standards or laws. It is the policy of MedEdPORTAL that all submissions be free and clear of any copyrighted materials before moving forward with the peer review process. This includes all text, diagrams, articles, cartoons, or multimedia. If you do have copyrighted materials we require that prospective authors obtain written permission to use any third-party materials. This written permission should acknowledge that it is intended to be used for MedEdPORTAL and may be distributed under the Creative Commons License as part of your resource. Alternatively, if there are items where the author(s) are not known, or it will be difficult to receive the necessary permission, then it may be simply removed from your resource.

For more information review the MedEdPORTAL Copyright and Patient Privacy Policy.

Peer Review: All items submitted by authors that successfully pass the screening process must pass peer-review, which mirrors the traditional journal model of peer-review. Two qualified external reviewers are selected by the Editor or Associate Editor. The reviewers are invited to evaluate the submission; they have three weeks to complete their review and may issue one of the following three publication recommendations:

• Accept

• Accept with Revisions

• Reject

The Editor evaluates the submitted reviews and makes the final publication decision. A formal decision email is sent to the primary author regarding the publication decision. All decision emails include the comments and recommendations from the reviewers.

The most common types of revisions requested by reviewers during the peer review process are to provide additional information that will help other faculty or learners implement or use the resource. This often takes the form of creating a separate instructor's guide. In addition, reviewers often ask for evidence of usage and/or effectiveness. While authors are not required to submit formal research studies demonstrating the effectiveness of a resource, they should (using the submission form) describe how they have used it and describe their experience.

Catalogue: Each resource that passes the peer review process is sent to a medical librarian and team who identify additional keywords and disciplines to be associated with the publication. Keywords are standardized using MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) from the US National Library of Medicine's (NLM) controlled vocabulary database which is used for indexing publications.

Publish: Once a resource is successfully catalogued the next step involves formatting and publishing the resource on the MedEdPORTAL website. The publishing process involves:

• Verifying all co-author submission agreements and copyright forms are on file.

• Formatting the abstract appropriately for publication.

• Uploading the final resource files to the MedEdPORTAL site.

When the above three steps are complete the resource is formally published and is searchable/downloadable on the MedEdPORTAL website.

The entire submission to publication process typically takes 4-6 months. On average over 90% of submissions require the author to make modifications to the resource during the screening and/or peer-review process.

Scope of Submissions and Publications [Top of Page]

MedEdPORTAL currently only accepts submissions for educational or assessment materials that are relevant to the continuum of medical and/or dental education (e.g. undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical/dental education). MedEdPORTAL will accept interprofessional educational materials as long they are applicable to medical or dental education. MedEdPORTAL also accepts faculty development and professional development materials (e.g. how to give effective presentations, using audience response systems to enhance learning, successfully using visual aids in presentations, etc) that are applicable to medical and/or dental education.

Primary Author [Top of Page]

It is important that the primary/lead author complete the submission form using his/her MedEdPORTAL user account. MedEdPORTAL will not accept submissions completed by other users on behalf of the primary authors.

Co-Author Submission Agreements [Top of Page]

Upon completing the online submission form, each co-author will automatically receive an email with a copy of the completed submission form along with a unique link to the MedEdPORTAL Submission Agreement that they must digitally sign. The submission will not be published until all co-authors sign off on the MedEdPORTAL submission agreement.

Instructor's Guide [Top of Page]

All submissions to MedEdPORTAL MUST include an instructor's guide that will be disseminated with the actual resource if published. An instructor's guide is typically 1-3 pages in length and includes the following components at a minimum:

• List of all the resource files included in the submission.

• Explanation of when, how, and the order in which to use each resource file.

• The purpose/goal of the resource (including educational objectives)

• The conceptual background (why and how it was created)

• Practical implementation advice (materials needed, length of session, faculty/facilitator needs, preparation needs, etc.)

• How has it been successfully deployed (including common pitfalls, tips for success, etc.)

• What are the limitations of the resource and what are your ideas for improving/expanding it (adding this self-reflection component is encouraged).

Submission Standards [Top of Page]

MedEdPORTAL considers submissions using the commonly accepted principles of educational scholarship. Authors are strongly advised to consider whether or not their submission addresses the following:

• Is it generalizable?

  • The resource may be useful to you at your institution but does the submission contain enough guidance to be understood and used by other faculty without additional information?

  • Did you include all the supplemental documents and forms that others will require to use the resource?

• Does it represent scholarship?

  • Resources should address the tenets of educational scholarship as conveyed through the MedEdPORTAL Peer Review Form.

  • Use the MedEdPORTAL submission form (and the Instructor's Guide) to convincingly show the reviewers exactly how your work represents scholarship and contributes to the field.

Note: A superficial course syllabus, workshop outline, or basic PowerPoint presentation usually fails peer review. In addition, static biomedical reference materials (e.g., static textbooks, pocket cards, etc.) that have little or no instructional focus are typically not considered to fall within the scope of MedEdPORTAL.

Submission Formats [Top of Page]

MedEdPORTAL accepts a wide variety of resources, including tutorials, cases, lab manuals, assessment tools, simulations, faculty development materials, board review questions, etc. MedEdPORTAL submissions may be submitted in any of the common technical formats. It is important to recognize that MedEdPORTAL does not accept traditional articles or manuscripts that only describe a resource, project, or curriculum. The actual tool or resource should be submitted.

The following are suggested formats/templates for certain types of MedEdPORTAL submissions:

• Human Patient Simulations - Authors submitting human patient simulations do not need to submit the actual simulator application program. However, it is important that authors of these resources submit a comprehensive document that fully describes the scenario, including the educational objectives, the case presentation/story/exam, the condition of the simulator and how the simulator should be used.

• Standardized Patient Cases - Authors that would like to submit a standardized patient case are encouraged to follow these formatting recommendations developed by the Association of Standardized Patient Educators.

• Team-Based Learning (TBL) - Authors should use the formatting instructions to describe and organize all resources within a submission.

• Board Review or Exam Questions and Question Banks - Each question should provide a general explanation along with feedback for every correct and wrong answer.

Intellectual Property [Top of Page]

MedEdPORTAL respects the original ownership of all submissions. To protect the rights of authors, MedEdPORTAL requires that the primary author answer three simple questions to create a Creative Commons copyright usage license which legally governs how their material may be used by others. If the submission is accepted, the MedEdPORTAL system will associate this Creative Commons License with the resource and request that all users maintain an association between this License and the resource they download. The Creative Commons Web site provides examples of how this can be accomplished.

For more information review the MedEdPORTAL Intellectual Property Policy.

Submitting Resources Published Elsewhere [Top of Page]

MedEdPORTAL will consider previously published works. It is important to note that while many authors have published articles that describe an educational resource/project, this is considered a completely separate work from the actual resource (which is typically not included in the article). Authors are usually free to publish the actual resource or tool on MedEdPORTAL because such resources were not technically part of the prior publication.