Transport Dispatch™ (the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Transport Medicine [AAP SOTM]) Editorial Guidelines and Procedures

Publication Details

Transport Dispatch is published quarterly as PDF and distributed via email to members of the AAP SOTM.

Editorial Policies

1. Peer Review Process: Transport Dispatch insists on a rigorous peer-review process to evaluate manuscripts for their scientific importance and the accuracy of their conclusions. Authors should appreciate that Transport Dispatch’s review process may require substantial revisions and follow-up answers to questions from the reviewers before a decision to publish is made. All submissions will undergo review by field experts before publication acceptance. A minimum review panel for most submissions includes an editor, an associate editor, and two additional peer reviewers (selected by the associate editors or editors). Deadlines for submission are rolling. Authors should expect to hear within two weeks if their manuscripts are “accepted” (News Articles and Letters to the Editor and Editorials), “rejected,” or “sent for expert review.” Expert Reviews take a minimum of seven additional weeks. Following expert review, manuscripts will be designated: “accepted with no or minor revisions,” “accepted pending major revisions,” “rejected but encouraged to resubmit after major revisions,” or “rejected.” Manuscript publication dates may be affected by how long authors take to respond to reviewers’ requests for revisions and clarifications. There may be additional delays depending on the expertise required to conduct a meaningful peer review (e.g., niche specialty topics, complex statistical analyses, etc.). Reviewers’ queries left unanswered for longer than 30 days may require complete resubmission with relevant explanations in the cover letter. All rejections will be communicated to the authors by the Scientific Editors.
2. Scope and Focus: Transport Dispatch’s mission is to publish important news, important operational and clinical updates, original research, and quality improvement projects specific to the field of neonatal and pediatric medical and behavioral health transport. Documents submitted should be designated as the above and conform to the following: 1) News Articles – less than 750 words; 2) Operational and Clinical Updates – less than 5000 words; 3) Original Research – less than 5000 words; 4) Case Reports – less than 2000 words; 5) Review Articles – less than 8000 words; 6) Quality Improvement Projects – less than 5000 words and follow the SQUIRE 2.0 Guideline format; and 7) Letters to the Editor, Editorials and Opinion Pieces – less than 1000 words.
3. Originality and Plagiarism: Transport Dispatch editorial staff demands originality and ethical conduct in research. All submitted manuscripts should be original and free from plagiarism or academic misconduct. If generative AI tools are used in any part of manuscript preparation, from writing to data analysis to image creation, the authors must report it in the introduction letter to the editors. Identification of AI must include the name and manufacturer of the AI tool and how it was used in the work being submitted. Disclosure should also include AI tools for improving grammar and readability, such as Grammarly. While the use of generative AI tools is not discouraged, authors are accountable for the integrity and accuracy of all material in their manuscript, including any content generated by AI.
4. Data Integrity and Ethics: Traditional research should be conducted with the consent of an institutional review board (IRB). Qualifying quality improvement projects may not require IRB approval. Maintaining accurate data and adherence to ethical guidelines in research is paramount. Studies involving human or animal subjects should have approval from relevant ethical committees and comply with established institutional guidelines. Whenever possible, information that allows identification of patients should be removed. A written release from a patient or guardian may suffice in certain circumstances.
5. Conflicts of Interest: Authors should disclose any potential conflicts related to their research, such as financial or personal relationships that may bias their work. Authors should also list study sponsorships.
6. Authorship and Contribution: All those who have contributed appreciably to the research should be acknowledged as authors. It is good practice for authors associated with medical schools to list those associations (not just the hospitals) for the work to count toward academic promotion. Each should contribute substantially to the conception, design, acquisition of data, analysis, or editing and writing of the manuscript. All authors should be involved with the following (As stated in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Recommendations): 1) Drafting of the article or critical revisions; 2) Final approval of the version to be published; and 3) Accountability for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the article are appropriately investigated and resolved. One author must be designated as the corresponding author. This person is solely responsible for all correspondence with Transport Dispatch and will receive all emails regarding forms, authorship issues, manuscript files, etc. 
7. Formatting and Style: All manuscript submissions should be submitted as a Microsoft Word or Google Docs document. There are no restrictions to font, text size, or line spacing, although different formatting may ultimately be applied for the purposes of publication. Manuscripts should have page numbers. Footnotes and references should be documented in the American Medical Association, 11th Edition style. Pictures and images submitted should be in JPEG format and of high enough resolution to be clear when printed. Standard magazine quality requires a resolution of at least 300 dots per inch (DPI). This means you multiply the dimensions of the print (in inches) by 300 to get the number of pixels your image should have for each dimension. For example, a 4x6 inch photo should be 1200x1800 pixels for standard quality. Color images are preferred to grey-scale ones.
8. Retraction and Corrections: Transport Dispatch reserves the right to retract published articles or issue corrections when necessary, even without the authors’ consent. Transport Dispatch is committed to promptly rectifying errors and misleading information.
9. Open Access and Copyright: Articles contained within Transport Dispatch are freely accessible to members of the AAP SOTM. Authors share the copyright of their published articles and manuscripts with Transport Dispatch. Authors are solely responsible for getting permission to use copyrighted materials before submission to Transport Dispatch.
10. Editorial Independence and Integrity: Transport Dispatch’s editorial decisions are based on scientific merit without external influence. Transport Dispatch follows guidelines set by relevant professional organizations and promotes transparency in the editorial process.