Overview
Submission Instructions
Recent Publications
Frequently Asked Questions
Research Topics
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BMC Medical Ethics is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of ethics in medicine. The journal is particularly interested in submissions on ethical aspects of biomedical research and clinical practice, including professional choices and conduct, medical technologies, healthcare systems and health policies. It considers both normative and empirical contributions to medical ethics and welcomes multidisciplinary research on ethical issues in healthcare, including global perspectives and culturally diverse approaches to bioethics.
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Subject
Medical Ethics
Impact Factor
3.1
Quartile
Q1
Open Access Type
Open
ISSN
1472-6939
eISSN
1472-6939
Invitation Only
No
Cost Range
APC: £1690.00 GBP / $2390.00 USD / €2090.00 EUR, plus VAT or local taxes where applicable.
Submission Instructions
BMC Medical Ethics accepts the following article types. Click on an article type to view submission instructions.
Research Article
Cover Letter
A cover letter is required. Cover letter must explain any issues relating to journal policies, declare any potential competing interests, confirm that all authors approved the submission, and confirm that the manuscript content has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
Abstract
An abstract is required. Abstract must not exceed 350 words. Abstract must be structured. Abstract must include the headings Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.
Manuscript
Manuscript must include a title page and the sections Background, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, and Declarations. Manuscript must include three to ten keywords, a Declarations section with the required subheadings retained even when marked 'Not applicable', a list of abbreviations if abbreviations are used, and documentation of any Large Language Model use in the Methods section or another suitable section if no Methods section is available.
References
References must follow Vancouver style. Only published articles, clinical trial registration records, and abstracts that are published, in press, or publicly available as e-prints/preprints may be cited; unpublished abstracts, unpublished data, and personal communications must not appear in the reference list; journal abbreviations must follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE; and URLs must be assigned reference numbers and included in the reference list in full with site title, URL, and access date.
Figures & Tables
Figure legends must appear in the main manuscript and figures must be uploaded separately, while tables shorter than one page may be placed within the manuscript and longer tables may be placed at the end with their positions indicated in the text. Figures must be numbered in the order first cited, multi-panel figures submitted as a single composite file, and tables must be numbered and cited sequentially using Arabic numerals and created with the word processor's table function rather than embedded as figures or spreadsheet files.
Study Protocol
Cover Letter
A cover letter is required and must confirm the study status at submission. The cover letter must state the study status, explain any issues relating to journal policies, declare any potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved the submission, and confirm the manuscript has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
Abstract
An abstract is required. Abstract must not exceed 350 words. Abstract must be structured with separate sections. Abstract must include the headings Background, Methods, Discussion, and Trial registration, and randomized controlled trial protocols must give the trial registration number in the last line of the abstract.
Manuscript
Manuscript must include Background, Methods/Design, Discussion, and a Declarations section. Manuscript must include three to ten keywords, the Declarations subsections specified for this article type with 'Not applicable' where irrelevant, and disclosure of any Large Language Model use in the Methods section or a suitable alternative section.
References
References must follow the Vancouver style. Only published or in-press articles, clinical trial registration records, and publicly available preprints or abstracts may be cited; unpublished abstracts, unpublished data, and personal communications must not appear in the reference list.
Figures & Tables
Tables shorter than one page may be placed within the manuscript, larger tables may be placed at the end, and figure legends must appear in the main manuscript while figures are uploaded separately. Figures must be numbered in order and multi-panel figures submitted as a single composite file, and tables must be numbered in sequence and created using the word processor's table function rather than embedded as figures.
Review
Cover Letter
A cover letter is required. Cover letter must explain any issues relating to journal policies, declare any potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved submission, confirm the manuscript has not been published or submitted elsewhere, and name the special issue if applicable.
Abstract
An abstract is required. Abstract must not exceed 350 words. Abstract must be structured. Abstract must include Background, Main Body, and a short Conclusion.
Manuscript
Manuscript must include a Background section, a Conclusions section, and a Declarations section, and the main text may be divided into short informative subsections. Review manuscripts must include three to ten keywords, a Declarations section with the specified subheadings using "Not applicable" where irrelevant, an Availability of data and materials statement, a list of abbreviations if abbreviations are used, funding and author-contribution declarations, and documentation of any Large Language Model use in the Methods section or another suitable section.
References
References must follow Vancouver style. Only published or in-press articles, clinical trial registration records, abstracts, and public preprints may be cited, unpublished abstracts/data/personal communications must be excluded from the reference list, journal abbreviations must follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE, and URLs must be numbered and included in the reference list with full site title, URL, and access date.
Figures & Tables
Figure titles and legends must appear in the main manuscript while figures are uploaded separately, and tables shorter than one page may be placed in the text whereas longer tables may be placed at the end with their locations indicated in the text. Figures must be numbered in text order and multipart figures submitted as one composite file, while tables must be numbered and cited sequentially, created with the word processor's Table object, and not embedded as figures or spreadsheet files.
Systematic Review
Cover Letter
A cover letter is required. The cover letter must explain any issues relating to journal policies, declare any potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved the submission, and confirm the manuscript has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
Abstract
An abstract is required. Abstract must not exceed 350 words. Abstract must be structured. Abstract must include the headings Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions, and for reports of health care interventions on human participants it must also include a Trial registration section.
Manuscript
Manuscript should include Background, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions sections and a Declarations section with the required subheadings. Manuscript must include three to ten keywords, a list of abbreviations if abbreviations are used, the registration number as the last line of the abstract if the systematic review was registered, and documentation of any Large Language Model use in the Methods section or suitable alternative part.
References
References should follow Vancouver style. Only published or in-press articles, clinical trial registration records, and publicly available abstracts or preprints may be cited; unpublished abstracts, unpublished data, and personal communications must not appear in the reference list, journal abbreviations must follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE, and web links must be cited as numbered references with full site title, URL, and access date.
Figures & Tables
Figure legends must appear in the main manuscript while figures are uploaded separately, and tables shorter than one page may be placed in the manuscript whereas longer tables may be placed at the end with in-text callouts. Figures must be numbered in order and multipart figures submitted as a single composite file, while tables must be numbered in sequence and created using the word processor’s table function rather than embedded as figures or spreadsheet files.
Database Article
Cover Letter
Cover letter is required. Cover letter must explain any issues relating to journal policies, declare any potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved submission, and confirm the manuscript has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
Abstract
Abstract is required. Abstract must not exceed 350 words. Abstract must be structured. Abstract must include Background, Main body of the abstract, and short Conclusion.
Manuscript
Manuscript must include Background, Construction and content, Utility and discussion, Conclusions, and a Declarations section. Manuscript must include three to ten keywords and a Declarations section with the subheadings Ethics approval and consent to participate, Consent for publication, Availability of data and materials, Competing interests, Funding, Authors' contributions, Acknowledgements, and Authors' information (optional), using 'Not applicable' where a section is irrelevant and documenting any Large Language Model use in the Methods section or suitable alternative part of the manuscript.
References
References must follow Vancouver style. Web links and URLs must be cited by reference number in the reference list with the site title, full URL, access date, and author if clearly identifiable, and journal abbreviations must follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE.
Figures & Tables
Tables shorter than one page may be placed within the manuscript, tables longer than one page may be placed at the end of the text file, and figure titles and legends must appear in the main manuscript rather than in the image files. Figures must be numbered in first-citation order and multi-panel figures submitted as a single composite file, while tables must be numbered and cited sequentially, created with the word processor's table function, and not embedded as figures or spreadsheet files.
Software Article
Cover Letter
A cover letter is required. Cover letter must explain any issues relating to journal policies, declare any potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved submission, confirm the manuscript has not been published or submitted elsewhere, and name the special issue if applicable.
Abstract
An abstract is required. Abstract must not exceed 350 words. Abstract must be structured. Abstract must include the headings Background, Results, and Conclusions.
Manuscript
Manuscript must include Background, Implementation, Results, Conclusions, Availability and requirements, and a Declarations section, with Results optionally combined with Discussion. Manuscript must provide three to ten keywords, include a list of abbreviations if abbreviations are used, document any Large Language Model use in the Methods or another suitable section, include the software as additional files, and include all Declarations headings with 'Not applicable' where a section is irrelevant.
References
References must follow Vancouver reference style. Only published or publicly available articles, clinical trial registration records, and abstracts may be cited; unpublished abstracts, unpublished data, and personal communications must not appear in the reference list; URLs must be cited as numbered references with full site title, full URL, and access date; journal abbreviations must follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE; and dataset identifiers including DOIs should be given as full URLs.
Figures & Tables
Tables shorter than one page may be placed within the manuscript, larger tables may be placed at the end of the text file, and figures must be uploaded separately with legends included in the main manuscript. Figures must be numbered in text order with multi-panel figures submitted as single composite files, and tables must be cited in sequence and created using the word processor's Table object rather than embedded as figures or spreadsheet files.
Case Report
Cover Letter
A cover letter is required for Case Reports. Cover letter must describe how the case is rare or unusual and its educational and/or scientific merits, include any issues relating to journal policies, declare any potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved submission, and confirm the manuscript has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
Abstract
An abstract is required for Case Reports. Abstract must not exceed 350 words. Abstract must be structured. Abstract must include the headings Background, Case presentation, and Conclusions.
Manuscript
Manuscript must include a title page, Background, Case presentation, Discussion and Conclusions, and a Declarations section. Manuscript must include three to ten keywords, a list of abbreviations if abbreviations are used, and a Declarations section with the subsections Ethics approval and consent to participate, Consent for publication, Availability of data and materials, Competing interests, Funding, Authors' contributions, Acknowledgements, and optional Authors' information, using 'Not applicable' where a subsection is not relevant.
References
References must use Vancouver style. Only published articles, clinical trial registration records, and published or publicly available abstracts may be cited; unpublished abstracts, unpublished data, and personal communications must not appear in the reference list; journal abbreviations must follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE; and web links must be numbered and included in the reference list with the site title, full URL, and access date.
Figures & Tables
Figure titles and legends must appear in the main manuscript rather than in the graphic file, tables shorter than one page may be placed in the manuscript at the appropriate location, and tables longer than one page may be placed at the end of the text file. Figures must be numbered in order of first mention and uploaded in that order, multi-panel figures must be submitted as a single composite file, and tables must be numbered and cited in sequence and created using the word processor's table function rather than embedded as figures or spreadsheet files.
Matters Arising
Cover Letter
Cover letter is required. Cover letter must explain any issues relating to journal policies, declare any potential competing interests, confirm that all authors approved the submission, and confirm that the manuscript content has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
Abstract
Abstract must not be included. The first paragraph is used as the abstract for submission purposes instead of a separate abstract.
Manuscript
Main text should be as concise as possible and ideally not exceed 1,200 words. Manuscript should begin with a brief non-technical summary paragraph, contain the body text with optional short informative subsection headings, and include a Declarations section with the required subheadings. Manuscript must include three to ten keywords and a Declarations section with the headings Ethics approval and consent to participate, Consent for publication, Availability of data and materials, Competing interests, Funding, Authors' contributions, Acknowledgements, and optional Authors' information, using 'Not applicable' where a declaration is not relevant.
References
Contributions may have up to 15 references. References should follow Vancouver style. Only published articles, clinical trial registration records, and abstracts or items available through public e-print/preprint servers may be cited, unpublished abstracts, unpublished data, and personal communications must not appear in the reference list, journal abbreviations must follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE, and web links must be numbered and included in full in the reference list with title, URL, and access date.
Figures & Tables
The article should ideally require only one or two small figures or tables. Figure titles and legends must appear in the main manuscript rather than in the graphic file, tables shorter than one page can be placed in the manuscript while larger tables can be placed at the end of the text file, and figures must be uploaded separately. Multi-panel figures must be submitted as a single composite file, tables must not be embedded as figures or spreadsheet files, footnotes must not contain figures or tables, and footnotes to tables should use superscript lower-case letters or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data.
Recent Publications
What do Tanzanian Research Ethics Committees prioritise? A quantitative analysis of reviewer comments using Emanuel’s framework
David Machaku, Bruno Sunguya, Elizabeth Bukusi, Richard Waddell, Connie M. Ulrich
10.1186/s12910-026-01528-x
View Publication
Decolonizing genomic data ownership: a qualitative study of legal practices and access in Uganda
Deborah Ekusai Sebatta, Shenuka Singh, Jessica Oga, David Kyaddondo, John Barugahare, Sharifah Sekalala, Moses Mulumba, Erisa Mwaka
10.1186/s12910-026-01517-0
View Publication
A systematic scoping review and interpretive ethical synthesis of ethical decision-making about physical restraints for older adults in Confucian-influenced care contexts
Xiaoyan Feng, Hongjun Zhu, Liyun Shang, Yuanyuan Tao
10.1186/s12910-026-01530-3
View Publication
Dignity as recognition respect: lessons from the cases of Charlie Gard, Alfie Evans and Isaiah Haastrup
Nanette Ryan
10.1186/s12910-026-01506-3
View Publication
Justice in the governance of personal health data spaces: stakeholder perspectives in Belgium
Erik Laes, Yvonne Denier, Elfi Goesaert, Cato van Schyndel, Nathalie Lambrechts
10.1186/s12910-026-01531-2
View Publication
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to publish?
Submission to first decision (median): 9 days.
Reformat to BMC Medical Ethics using Livewrite PremiumIs a cover letter required?
A cover letter is required. It should explain why the manuscript should be published in BMC Medical Ethics, address any issues relating to journal policies, declare any potential competing interests, confirm that all authors approved the submission, confirm that the manuscript has not been published or submitted elsewhere, and name the special issue if applicable. Authors may also suggest preferred or non-preferred peer reviewers in the cover letter.
Reformat to BMC Medical Ethics using Livewrite PremiumWhat are the publication costs?
Research Topics
Ethics in Clinical Research
Ethics in medical practice
Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues
Patient Dignity and Privacy
Biomedical Ethics and Regulation
Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric Healthcare
Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare
Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life
Healthcare Decision-Making and Restraints
Medical Malpractice and Liability Issues
Healthcare cost, quality, practices
Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
Organ Donation and Transplantation
Innovations in Medical Education
Disaster Response and Management
Reproductive Health and Technologies
Genomics and Rare Diseases
HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
Mental Health and Patient Involvement
Global Health and Surgery
Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare
Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy
Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations