Recommendations for reviewing manuscripts of the article types “project report” and “how to” for the GMS Journal for Medical Education

Objective: This position paper of the Committee on Methodology in Educational Research sets out the criteria for the acceptance, revision, or rejection of manuscripts of the article types project report and how to in the GMS Journal for Medical Education, as well as outlining the development of these criteria. Methods: In a workshop with writers, reviewers, and editors, we formulated and discussed common core elements for articles. We did this by consulting the journal’s editorial board on the basis of guidelines for authors and reviewers from other journals and by using examples of articles considered less or more successful. From this, we derived specific aspects to be addressed and rejection criteria for the respective article types. Results: We have identified the target group, relevance, justification, and implication as the common core elements for both article types. We have also derived specific aspects to be addressed and rejection criteria from these core elements for each article type. Conclusion: A manuscript lacking core elements will be rejected. If aspects are not described sufficiently or are not clearly comprehensible, the manuscript must be revised.