To maintain the integrity, neutrality, and value of NAM Perspectives, all manuscripts must meet specific editorial standards related to content scope, authorship balance, and alignment with NAM’s mission. These guidelines are designed to ensure clarity, fairness, and appropriateness across all published work.

Content Focus and Framing

NAM Perspectives does not publish consensus reports, technical data sets, or highly specialized research. All papers should be written for an educated generalist audience and should focus on key issues in health, medicine, biomedical science, or health policy. Authors should frame arguments clearly and support them with appropriate evidence.

Papers may comment on existing laws or federal activities but may not advocate for or against pending legislation or regulations. Authors should avoid political framing or language, including references to political parties or partisan positions. Promotional or marketing content will not be accepted.

The journal does not allow the use of terms such as “report,” “recommendations,” “conclusions,” or “findings.” Preferred alternatives include “key insights,” “guidance,” “research agenda,” “strategies,” “priority actions,” or “themes.”

Discussion of National Academies or NAM activities must be presented with appropriate context. Manuscripts may reference meetings or convenings, but Commentaries and Discussion Papers must go beyond summary and include a distinct argument, perspective, or call to action.

Citations and Evidence

Authors are expected to support all factual claims with citations. In general, statements that could be interpreted as objective facts must be sourced. If no citation exists, authors should instead attribute the statement directly (e.g., “The authors of this manuscript believe…”).

Papers should avoid over-citation. No more than three references should be included for any single sentence, and all references cited in the text must appear in the reference list.

Authorship and Balance

Manuscripts must reflect diversity of thought and experience. The editorial team will assess authorship for balance based on topic, discipline, and perspective. For example, a paper on nursing should not be authored exclusively by physicians, and a paper advocating for a particular technology should not be written solely by individuals with direct financial ties to that technology.

Papers may not be authored by the full membership of a NAM or NASEM committee, action collaborative, or other formal group, as this could present the appearance of consensus outside official procedures. However, members of such groups may serve as individual authors.

All authors must disclose financial and non-financial conflicts of interest. Papers will be reviewed with these disclosures in mind to ensure fairness and transparency.

Writing Quality and Accessibility

Above all, papers must be written in clear, accessible language. NAM Perspectives is intended for leaders and experts across sectors—not only for specialists in a single field. Manuscripts should be logically structured, persuasive, and easy to read. During editorial review, particular attention is paid to clarity of argument and the paper’s potential to advance understanding and spark dialogue in the field.