Submitting to RHM

For new users to the site, submission is a two step process:

• register: You must first create an account at RHM. The username and password will allow you to submit an article and track it through review.
• submit: You can then submit your manuscript.

For returning users to the site, select submit and log-in with your username and password.

 

Submission Types:

• Original research articles, including well-formulated pilot and case studies. Articles with significant multimedia components may be published in online form on the RHM website. Research article submissions should be no longer than 10,000 words, though longer manuscripts may be considered at the discretion of the editors.
• Dialogues (invited and proposed) among multiple scholars and stakeholders about the role of and/or study of rhetoric in health and medical issues; the editors especially welcome dialogues that include public and other nonacademic stakeholders and that propose new ways of engaging or studying health and medicine. Dialogues can take different forms but should be no longer than 5,000 words. Topics, contributors, and forms of dialogues should be approved by the editors before submission.
• Review essays that put in conversation three or more fairly recent publications (including article- and book-length scholarly publications across a range of disciplines, publications in a range of media, and publications in health or medical forums) related to RHM as a scholarly field of inquiry. Review essays should include substantial synthesis, critique, and original larger observations about the field and its future directions.
• Persuasion briefs  (invited and proposed) should generally target, along with the journal’s main readership, a non- or extra-academic audience (e.g., health journalists, policymakers, medical educators and practitioners, health publics and communities, business representatives) with the purpose of informing and improving a current set of practices. Persuasion briefs, or white papers, explain the role of rhetoric in and synthesize rhetorical insights about a particular set of health or medical practices (including applied communication contexts). They should be framed around what the rhetorical research says and what it suggests for whatever stakes the targeted constituency has in the conversation.
• Commentaries (invited and proposed) are generally shorter, clearly focused opinion or advocacy pieces about timely health or medical issues, although they can also focus on the state of our scholarly field. These submission types should be written in styles appropriate for their intended audiences.  

Submissions Instructions
By submitting a manuscript to RHM, you are acknowledging that the work has not been previously published, that the work is not being considered for publication in other venues, and that you will not allow the manuscript to be so considered before notification in writing of an editorial decision by RHM.

Submit manuscripts online to our submission management system here. See below for more specific guidelines for preparing and submitting your manuscript to RHM.

• Include a title and, in most cases, informative headings.
• Include an abstract of no more than 150 words and 5 keywords that do not appear in the title.
• The manuscript should not be longer than 10,000 total words (including abstract, notes, references, tables/figures, and appendixes) for research articles, and not be longer than 5,000 total words for dialogues, review essays, and persuasion briefs.
• Persuasion briefs and commentaries should include a note stating their intended primary and secondary audiences.
• The manuscript must conform to the guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7^th edition) with the sole exception to use authors’ first names both when the author is named in the discussion and in the list of references. Please note that first names do not need to be used in the in-text citations themselves. 
• Do not include identifying information about the author in the text or file properties.
• Use footnotes rather than endnotes, if applicable.
• Submit as Microsoft Word files (.doc or .docx) that are numbered and double-spaced (including the abstract, block quotations, tables and figures, endnotes, and references); tables and captions for all figures should be placed in appropriate locations within the text.
• Image files should not be included in the word document and need to be uploaded in their original formats (e.g., *.jpg) in the supplemental file area of the submission system.
• If applicable, include a statement confirming that research data about human subjects was collected in accordance with the standards and guidelines of any and all relevant IRBs (or equivalent bodies).
• Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission and paying any associated fees for use of any images or other material that has been previously published elsewhere.

Illustrations
Manuscripts accepted for publication should be accompanied by separate high-quality files of any illustrations. Digital files are recommended for best reproduction. These should be 300 dpi or higher; sized to fit on journal page (within 4.75” wide by 7.75” high); EPS, TIFF, or PSD (Photoshop) format. All illustrations and tables should include captions and should be clearly labeled and credited.

Timeline for the Review Process

A decision about whether to send a manuscript for review will usually be made within

• two weeks of submission, a

A decision about publication will usually be made within

• six to eight weeks after a manuscript is sent for review.

Review Process
Research articles, dialogues, review essays, persuasion briefs, and some commentaries will first be screened by the editors and, if found to be appropriate for the journal and ready for review, undergo peer review by at least two reviewers, usually from different areas of the field. See the decision categories for more information about reviews.

For review essays, persuasion briefs, and commentaries, one of these reviewers will be a member of the editorial team.

Copyright
Authors transfer copyright to the University of Florida Press but retain the following specific rights: (1) to use the article in their own teaching activities; (2) to publish the article in any book they may write; (3) to include a preprint version of the article on their departmental or institutional database, or personal website (4) to include a PDF of the final, copyedited, and proofread version of the article as it appears in the journal on their departmental or institutional database or personal website 12 months after final publication To obtain permission for other uses, please contact the University of Florida Press: press@upress.ufl.edu.