FPM is an editorially independent, peer-reviewed journal established in 1993 and published by the American Academy of Family Physicians. Through our bimonthly print and online publication, weekly e-enewsletter, and extensive website, FPM gives family physicians practical information to help them maintain efficient and effective practices, enhance the patient experience, and maximize their professional satisfaction. See FPM's Editorial Mission and Policies.
FPM is indexed in MEDLINE, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's premier bibliographic database, PubMED, and Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature. The journal is also available in full text through Clinical Key.
We publish actionable articles that can help family physicians with the nonclinical aspects of practice, including practice management, coding/billing, patient interaction, workflows, and career development. See "Topics we cover." The test of a manuscript we are considering is whether it is useful to family physicians and adds to the literature on the topic. We do not publish medical advice, original research, or articles promoting proprietary products or services. We also do not charge authors fees for publication. Authors should beware of predatory journals, entities that claim to be scholarly journals but are fraudulent or deceptive.
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The AAFP requires all authors to disclose any commercial association that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted manuscript. All authors must complete a Conflict of Interest form and may be asked to provide additional details to determine whether their submission can be considered.
To avoid bias or the perception of bias, FPM will not consider manuscripts 1) sponsored directly or indirectly by a pharmaceutical company, medical education company, or other commercial entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services to patients or health care professionals or by an ineligible company or 2) written by an author who has (or whose spouse/partner has) a financial relationship with or interest in any commercial entity or ineligible company that may have an interest in the subject matter of the article within the previous 36 months or in the foreseeable future, unless the conflict can be mitigated. This policy includes, but is not limited to, the following relationships/interests:
Sponsored content opportunites exist outside of the editorial process. Contact Darren Sextro, vice president of Journal Media.
We encourage authors to use a reasonably informal, conversational writing style, rather than "journalese," and to keep articles concise — 2,000 to 3,000 words. Contributions to our "Opinion" and "The Last Word" departments are 750 to 1,500 words. "Practice Pearls" are short tips, about 200 words.
Submit manuscripts by email to fpmedit@aafp.org. Microsoft Word is preferred. Include the following items with your submission:
Authorship. Please keep author groups to six or fewer authors. Some contributions may be more appropriately credited with an acknowledgment. Review the criteria for authorship before making final decisions about authorship. Authors and individuals whose contributions are to be acknowledged must give their permission to be named. Medical students and residents are encouraged to include more experienced physicians in their author groups, although we welcome Last Word essay submissions from all.
FPM seldom accepts articles that public relations or marketing communications professionals have been involved in developing. Authors must disclose the involvement of such entities, and these disclosures generally point to conflicts of interest that can’t be mitigated sufficiently to allow for the acceptance of the article.
Artificial intelligence technologies. Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and similar technologies including chatbots like ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) have been used in the drafting of scientific manuscripts. Authors who choose to use this technology must disclose at the time of manuscript submission their use of AI, the type of AI utilized, and how they used AI. In addition, authors must provide correct references in the established literature for all AI-generated statements to ensure both accuracy and appropriate attribution. AI technology does not qualify for authorship credit, because it cannot guarantee the veracity of the language generated, but its use must be acknowledged in the manuscript.
Contact information. Include contact information for the author responsible for correspondence about the manuscript.
Credentials. Include each author's name with the highest academic degree and a brief statement of their institutional affiliation and/or current professional responsibilities.
References. Keep references to a minimum. Supply numbered references when you quote from or refer directly to information from another publication and to support any statement that you believe readers are likely to question. Do not use embedded references in your document. Follow AMA reference style, e.g., 1. Weiss BD. Nonpharmacologic treatment of urinary incontinence. Am Fam Physician. 1991;44(2):579-586.
Figures and tables. We are available to help authors create or refine figures and tables. We prefer that they build on the information provided in the body of the article rather than duplicate it. We also accept high-quality videos or photos for publication. Please include signed photo releases from the individuals depicted.
Copyrighted materials. If you incorporate previously published material into your article — a table from another source, for instance — label it "COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL; PERMISSION REQUIRED." We will need to seek permission to reprint such material.
Submitted manuscripts go through multiple stages.
Internal review. At this initial stage, the FPM editors evaluate the manuscript's suitability for the journal and its readers. The editors may reject the manuscript, ask for revisions, or advance it to peer review.
Peer review. The editors seek the input of a group of peer reviewers. Based on that input, the editors may reject the manuscript, ask for revisions, or accept it for publication. Most manuscripts require some degree of revision before acceptance.
Editing. Accepted manuscripts undergo a professional edit. Some manuscripts are edited substantially at this stage, and authors may be asked to fill gaps in their presentation. Authors are asked to review and approve all substantive changes.
Page proofs. Once designers create layouts for articles, editors do the final proofing.
Time from submission to publication varies, depending on the amount of revision required, but is typically four to six months.