Editorial Supplement Guidelines

FPM will consider publishing supplements to the regular issues of the journal, either as "editorial supplements" or as "AAFP supplements." The following criteria for editorial supplements ensure that the journal's integrity, independence, and academic reputation are not compromised in any way.

Editorial oversight and peer review

• Supplements will only be considered for publication when the content is unbiased and of educational value to AAFP members and FPM readers, and when the topic is appropriate to FPM's editorial mission. The managing editor or medical editor will accept or reject a supplement purely on its informational or academic merit. Supplements that are clearly for promotional purposes will not be considered.
• FPM prefers to publish supplements that have been authored and developed under the journal's direct control, utilizing staff writers or staff-selected authors. In the case of manuscript submissions, authors are strongly encouraged to discuss their topic ideas with the managing editor before beginning work on a manuscript. This step allows tailoring of the topic to FPM's audience needs and prevents content overlap with recently published articles or articles in preparation. Authors must be able to demonstrate expertise in the topic area.
• Manuscripts will be subjected to the normal peer review processes of the journal. Editors must be alert to manuscripts where the sponsor may have a commercial interest. Authors will be required to complete a conflict of interest disclosure form and relevant financial affiliations will be published with the article as part of the author's biographical information.
• The medical editor has the right to reject any manuscript he/she considers unsuitable for publication.
• The journal editors may elect to edit the supplement themselves or may appoint a guest editor to function as supplement editor.
• The supplement editor must declare any competing interests and be involved at an early stage in the planning.
• Manuscripts should be original works or original reviews or commentaries of previous works.
• Complete author guidelines can be found online.
  

Production

• Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the journal's instructions for authors and contributors. In most instances the supplement will be produced run-of-book, but if produced as a separate piece it will include details of the journal's affiliations and editorial board.
• The sponsor may in some situations be entitled to see proofs, for example to check for accuracy or legal compliance, but editing decisions are solely at the discretion of the editor.
• A publication schedule should be agreed to in advance and adhered to as closely as possible.

Commercial issues

• The AAFP strategic partnership group and journal publisher must be involved at an early stage and will negotiate the financial arrangements with the sponsor.
• The editor should not become involved in any financial negotiations. The AAFP, not the sponsor, will be responsible for the editor's remuneration and expenses, as appropriate.
• The AAFP owns all copyright in the supplement and reserves the right to sell copies of the supplement, license its content, or create derivative works.
• There will be no display advertising sold in commercially sponsored supplements. Supplements with either no commercial sponsorship or partial non-commercial sponsorship may seek to offset costs by the sale of display advertising space.
• Acknowledgement of sponsorship will be confined to a line on the title page, inside front cover, or first page of each article, depending on the format of the supplement. The acknowledgement will state, "Publication of this supplement is made possible by an education grant from ________________" or "Publication of this supplement is made possible through the support of ________________." Acknowledgement statements for commercially funded supplements may additionally include "makers of ________________."