The application of theoretical and practical physics to medicine, physiology and biology. Topics covered are:

• all areas of radiotherapy physics
• radiation dosimetry (ionizing and non-ionizing radiation)
• biomedical imaging (e.g. x-ray, MR, ultrasound, optical, nuclear medicine)
• image reconstruction and kinetic modelling
• image analysis and computer-aided detection
• other radiation medicine applications
• therapies (including non-ionizing radiation)
• biomedical optics
• radiation protection
• radiobiology.

Papers on physics with no obvious medical or biological applications, or papers which are almost entirely clinical or biological in their approach are not acceptable.

Article types

Papers

Descriptions of original scientific research, techniques and applications. Papers should not be more than 8000 words long (14 journal pages) including figures and tables (allow an average of 2 figures per journal page and 3 tables per journal page). There are no page charges, but papers exceeding this page length will be returned to the author for revision prior to peer review.

Notes

Brief descriptions of a single piece of apparatus or a technique developed for a specific purpose, a small but important experimental or theoretical point or a novel solution to a commonly encountered problem in medical physics; not normally more than 3500 words (6 journal pages).

Comments and Replies

Comments on, or criticisms of, work previously published in this journal; not more than 1800 words (3 journal pages). The original authors will be invited to submit a Reply.

Fast Track Communications

Outstanding short papers reporting important, timely new developments; not normally more than 5000 words (8 journal pages). FTCs benefit from accelerated publication and should be accompanied by a written justification to the Editor. Please ensure that your justification explains why the article meets our stringent quality and novelty criteria and justifies faster publication.

Invited Topical Reviews

Intended to summarize accepted practice and report on recent progress in selected areas; commissioned by the Editorial Board from experts in various fields.

Special requirements

Authors of all articles are required upon submission to disclose any potential conflict of interest (e.g. employment, consulting fees, industrial research contracts, stock ownership, equity interests, patent-licensing arrangements, honoraria, etc) in their covering letter. If the article is subsequently accepted for publication, this information should be included in an acknowledgments section. Authors should also note that the journal fully endorses the principles embodied in the Declaration of Helsinki. All investigations involving humans must be conducted in accordance with these principles and in accordance with local statutory requirements. Articles relying on clinical trials should quote the trial registration number at the end of the abstract. We also encourage the registration of such studies in a public trials registry prior to publication of the results in the journal. All investigations involving animal experimentation must be conducted in conformity with the Guiding Principles for Research Involving Animals and Human Beings as adopted by The American Physiological Society.

Authors should note that particularly timely work may be considered for expedited review by submission to a member of the Editorial Board.

Papers rejected by other journals

In cases where authors genuinely think that their previously-rejected work deserves a second chance with a different journal, we request that the authors act on the original referees’ comments before submitting to PMB. Referees who have already seen a paper (for a different journal) will not be sympathetic if they find that their previous comments have been ignored.

General scientific summaries

In order to increase the accessibility of PMB to all readers, authors are required to submit a ‘General scientific summary’ with their papers, for publication in the electronic journal (only). General scientific summaries should not be more than 150 words long and should be supplied in Word (entitled ‘General summary.doc’) either at the original submission stage, or along with the revised/amended manuscript. The aim of the summaries is to make articles accessible to all readers of the journal (mainly medical physicists). Authors should therefore ensure that their summaries are intelligible to people working outside their field (we recommend that you check them with a non-specialist colleague!). In writing it, authors should try to address the following questions: What was the problem you studied? What did you do? What did you find? Why is this important and what’s new?

Frequency

The frequency of Physics in Medicine & Biology is 24 issues per year (from 2002).