Malaysian Family Physician (MFP)’s transformation and updates

Our journal has recently implemented some changes and updates to facilitate manuscript submission and the review process, as well as improve the journal’s content for primary care doctors. The four main enhancements include 1) adding colour to the article pages, 2) establishing the Online First section to expedite the publication of accepted articles, 3) making available a new online submission portal (OJS)¹ and 4) modifying the requirements for and format of case reports.²

The new OJS enables authors to monitor the progress and status of their manuscripts in the portal. Authors are also able to communicate with the editors in the portal (in the Add Discussion section). In addition, reviewers can review manuscripts and submit their comments via the online system.¹

Our journal expects case reports to represent less commonly seen cases and offer educational value for practising primary care doctors. The case must have important learning points and be relevant to primary care practice. The case reports must reflect a patient-centred approach instead of a disease-centred focus. We expect a case presentation to provide a comprehensive account of the presenting features, including the medical, psychosocial and family history.² It is advisable to avoid using judgemental or inappropriate terms (for example, “deny”, “failed” and “complaint”).³ Moreover, we have added two new sections: 1) What is new in this case report compared to the previous literature? and 2) What is the implication to the patients?²

With these improvements to the journal, we hope that MFP will continue to serve as an international journal that disseminates quality knowledge and clinical evidence relevant to primary care.