en-clinmed-journal-workflow

Clinical-medicine journal workflow (en-clinmed-journal-workflow)

Purpose

This is the routing skill for the specialty-clinical bundle. It does not replace a

single-journal profile; it first classifies the study by **specialty, study design,

and evidence strength**, then routes into the matching per-journal skill for fit and

re-framing. It is a sibling to en-natsci-journal-workflow (which holds the general

big-four and broad-specialty clinical flagships). These skills are venue-fit aids

only — not clinical, diagnostic, or regulatory advice.

Ask four things first

1. Specialty: internal/general medicine, oncology, cardiology, neurology,

pediatrics, psychiatry, surgery, respiratory/critical care, nephrology,

endocrinology/diabetes, hepatology/GI, allergy/immunology, rheumatology, stroke,

radiology, anesthesiology, obstetrics/gynecology, or urology?

1. Study design: randomized controlled trial, prospective cohort / observational

study, diagnostic-accuracy study, systematic review / meta-analysis, guideline /

consensus, mechanistic/translational study, or narrative/invited review?

1. Evidence strength & impact: practice-changing definitive trial, an important

but not definitive result, a hypothesis-generating or exploratory finding, or a

synthesis?

1. Audience: the whole specialty (a society/JAMA-Network/Lancet specialty

flagship), a sub-specialty community, or a general-medicine audience (route up to

the big-four in the natural-science bundle)?

Quick routing

| Manuscript signature | Prefer skill |

|---|---|

| General internal-medicine trial / comparative effectiveness | jama-internal-medicine |

| Oncology clinical trial / practice-changing | jama-oncology / annals-of-oncology |

| Authoritative oncology review | nature-reviews-clinical-oncology |

| Cardiology specialty study | jama-cardiology |

| Neurology clinical study | jama-neurology |

| Neuroscience-to-clinical brain disorders, mechanism + clinical | brain |

| Cerebrovascular / stroke | stroke |

| Pediatrics | jama-pediatrics |

| Psychiatry / mental-health (clinical or population) | jama-psychiatry / the-lancet-psychiatry |

| Surgery / perioperative outcomes | jama-surgery |

| Respiratory / pulmonary / critical-care medicine | the-lancet-respiratory-medicine / american-journal-of-respiratory-and-critical-care-medicine |

| Intensive / critical care | critical-care-medicine |

| Diabetes / endocrinology (clinical or population) | the-lancet-diabetes-and-endocrinology / journal-of-clinical-endocrinology-and-metabolism / diabetologia |

| Nephrology / kidney disease | journal-of-the-american-society-of-nephrology / kidney-international |

| Liver disease / hepatology | journal-of-hepatology / hepatology |

| Gastroenterology (clinical) | american-journal-of-gastroenterology |

| Allergy / clinical immunology | journal-of-allergy-and-clinical-immunology |

| Rheumatology / autoimmune | arthritis-and-rheumatology |

| Public-health / population-health intervention | the-lancet-public-health |

| Diagnostic imaging / imaging AI | radiology |

| Anesthesiology / perioperative medicine | anesthesiology |

| Obstetrics / gynecology | american-journal-of-obstetrics-and-gynecology |

| Urology | european-urology |

Sibling-journal disambiguation

| Confusable targets | Decision rule |

|---|---|

| A JAMA Network specialty title vs the general big-four (NEJM/JAMA/Lancet/BMJ in the natural-science bundle) | A practice-changing, broadly significant trial may belong at the general venue; a strong specialty-relevant result routes to the JAMA Network / Lancet specialty title. |

| jama-oncology vs annals-of-oncology | Route by audience and society fit (JAMA Network vs ESMO) and re-check current scopes; both take high-quality oncology clinical research. |

| journal-of-the-american-society-of-nephrology vs kidney-international | Both are top nephrology venues (ASN vs ISN); route by society fit and emphasis and re-check current scopes. |

| journal-of-hepatology vs hepatology | EASL vs AASLD flagships; route by society fit and audience and re-check current scopes. |

| the-lancet-psychiatry vs jama-psychiatry | Both are top psychiatry venues; route by family fit (Lancet vs JAMA Network) and the framing/audience. |

| Specialty journal vs the-lancet-public-health | A population-health/policy intervention routes to public health; a disease-specific clinical result routes to the specialty journal. |

Decision rules

• Match the reporting guideline before submitting. RCT → CONSORT + prospective

trial registration (number in the manuscript); systematic review → PRISMA;

observational → STROBE; diagnostic accuracy → STARD. These are prerequisites, not

nice-to-haves, at these venues.

• Evidence hierarchy sets the venue. A definitive randomized trial outranks an

observational study, which outranks a single-center case series; route the design to

the venue that expects that level of evidence.

• Specialty fit beats prestige. A strong nephrology or rheumatology result is often

better served by the society specialty flagship than by a general journal that will

desk-reject for limited general interest.

• Review vs primary. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology and similar are largely

invited/commissioned — propose, do not submit unsolicited primary data.

• Ethics, consent, and disclosures (IRB approval, informed consent, ICMJE COI and

authorship, data sharing) are gating items at every clinical venue.

• Always enter the single-journal skill's official-submission checklist before

submitting; never rely on a stale template.

Output format

[Top journal skill] <skill-name>
[Alt 1] <skill-name> (reason)
[Alt 2] <skill-name> (reason)
[Do not submit to] <journal> (one-line mismatch reason)
[Study design / reporting guideline] <RCT-CONSORT / cohort-STROBE / review-PRISMA / diagnostic-STARD>
[Biggest current gap] evidence-strength / specialty-fit / registration / reporting-checklist / ethics / official requirements
[Next step] invoke <skill-name> for single-venue fit and re-framing