The MSMR aims to publish timely reports with the most currently available data from surveillance systems or studies. Articles featured in MSMR primarily involve retrospective analyses of data incorporated to the Defense Medical Surveillance System for health surveillance purposes. Although the datasets in some MSMR reports or studies are not from the current or previous year, they are considered timely by scientific publication standards and provide actionable public health information or recommendations for the health and readiness of the military force. Submissions for publication in MSMR may also include data that are specific to one or more Military Departments, derived from historical sources, or from other relevant data sources outside the DMSS.

All material in the MSMR is cleared for public distribution. Materials may be used and reprinted without special permission but should contain a citation. Questions or comments about the MSMR can be sent to the editorial staff.

Submission and Peer Review Process

Submission

The MSMR welcomes a variety of types of reports for submission. The most frequently published articles in MSMR include full and brief reports summarizing original epidemiologic studies of military health importance, outbreak reports, case reports, “Surveillance Snapshots” (i.e., one page with figure and text), historical perspectives, and scientific notices to readers regarding public health practices. The editorial staff review all submissions according to the MSMR criteria for publication, including appropriateness, quality, originality, and timeliness. All submissions are received with the understanding that the Editor and editorial staff have the right to require revisions in conformity with MSMR standards and style.

Notification of all decisions concerning the status of a submission, including acceptance of the submission by editorial staff, will be sent to the corresponding author. During this correspondence, the editors will request completion of an authorship criteria form, which documents authorship standards of publication ethics defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and the World Association of Medical Editors. The editors will also request any documentation related to clearance processes from their respective Services or agencies and from human subject review boards, as appropriate. Authors must initiate the appropriate clearance and approvals prior to submission. See Clearance and Consent for more details.

Peer Review

Submissions that pass an initial editorial screening will be sent for external peer review. In their original submissions to the editor, authors are invited to nominate and provide contact information for one to three external referees. To avoid conflicts of interest, suggested referees should not be employed by the same department or division as any one of the authors. If external referees are not suggested by the authors, MSMR’s editorial staff will identify individuals with appropriate expertise. Each external peer reviewer is provided by MSMR with a uniform reviewer template that directs reviewers to evaluate a manuscript for relevance to: 1) the operational fitness of military members or their and MHS beneficiaries’ health, safety, and well-being; 2) appropriateness of statistical analyses; 3) conclusion validity; and 4) clarity of writing.

Following initial editorial staff and external peer reviews, the editor-in-chief will communicate one of the following decisions to the corresponding author: 1) acceptance of the submission for publication and initiation of the editing and production cycle; 2) tentative acceptance pending revision; 3) return for substantive revision and subsequent consideration; or 4) rejection of the submission. See Submission and Acceptance for more details.

Publication Ethics

Authors submitting to MSMR are expected to adhere to the highest standards of publication ethics prescribed by ICMJE and WAME. Falsification or fabrication of data, plagiarism, misappropriation of work, and ghost writing are all unacceptable. Ethical misconduct is treated seriously, in accordance with ICMJE guidelines. Additional information can be found in the instructions to authors under Ethics and Publication Malpractice.

Authorship

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, analysis, or interpretation of the reported study. Individuals claiming authorship shall meet all four criteria specified in the ICMJE author guidelines. Upon submission, authors will be asked to sign the MSMR Authorship Criteria Form, specifying each author’s contribution and designating a single corresponding author. All manuscript authors are required to submit written statements of approval indicating their review and approval of the edited manuscript.

Originality

By submitting a manuscript to MSMR, its authors affirm that it is an original manuscript, is unpublished work, and is not under review by another journal. Previous publication of an abstract as part of meeting or conference proceedings does not preclude subsequent submission for publication in MSMR, and publication as an academic thesis or electronic preprint also is not viewed as prior publication. Full disclosure of any prior publication should be made to the MSMR editorial staff at the time of submission.

Conflict of Interest

Authors must notify the MSMR editorial staff of any potential conflicts of interest including, but not limited to, financial (e.g., grants or funding from other sources) and material (e.g., equipment) support for their research. Conflicts of interest do not necessarily disqualify a paper or an author, and early and full disclosure allows informed and reasonable decisions by the MSMR editorial staff. Please contact the editor with any questions about a possible conflict of interest. 

Human or Animal Subjects

Compliance statements are required if research involved animal or human subjects, or chemicals, procedures, or equipment with unusual or inherent hazards with use. Authors must initiate clearance processes with their respective human subject review boards, as appropriate. If a report includes data from human subject participants in a study, the editors may request a copy of the approved IRB outcome letter from the author.

Privacy and informed consent

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscript and figures present no identifiable information stipulated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. If publication of any information could lead to identification of a participant, written informed consent from that participant must be obtained. A statement confirming that informed consent to the publication of identifying information including images must also be included in the publication.

Data access and retention

For reports submitted by authors not affiliated with AFHSD, raw data used for the analysis may be needed for editorial review, and authors should be prepared to provide access to such data, within the limits of a data sharing agreement (if required) and subject to safeguards of personally identifiable information specified by the Privacy Act of 1974, HIPAA, and amendments to these laws. Requests for data used to generate reports within AFHSD should be directed to dha.ncr.health-surv.mbx.afhs-ea-reports@health.mil. A request for Defense Medical Surveillance System data or analysis must be submitted by a military service member or government employee working for a U.S. military organization.  Requests for data will be evaluated individually, and those requesting such data may be required to obtain a data sharing agreement with DHA Privacy and Civil Liberties Office.

Corrections, retractions, and editorial expressions of concern

Authors of papers published by MSMR bear sole responsibility for their content and opinions expressed therein. Allegations of possible misconduct will be handled individually. Authors must promptly notify the MSMR of any significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work and cooperate with MSMR’s editorial staff to retract or correct the paper. Allegations related to manuscripts in progress will result in publication cessation while a review determines if the evidence would lead a reasonable person to infer possible misconduct. Published manuscripts will also be reviewed if such allegations are raised, with MSMR editorial staff consequently informing readers, correcting the published literature, or issuing a retraction, as necessitated by the review. Editorial expressions of concern may be directed to the editor.

The Defense Health Agency contracts with an independent organization to staff the MSMR with editors providing expertise in scientific writing, medical practice, epidemiological analysis, content review for military health programs, copy editing, and manuscript production. The MSMR editorial staff independently reviews all submitted papers to select, rigorously edit, and schedule articles for publication in each monthly issue.

Robert Johnson, MD, MPH, MBA, FACPM, FASMA
Colonel (retired), United States Air Force
Editor-in-Chief

Dr. Robert (Bob) Johnson joined the MSMR staff in December 2023, after a 30-year military career followed by academic, research, and executive roles at the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine, the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (a FAA Federal Laboratory), and as a physician executive with a national managed care support contractor administering the TRICARE East Region for the DHA. Dr. Johnson's military experience spans operational medical support in five continents, operational epidemiology, longitudinal research that included the role of principal investigator for two long-term military cohort studies, directing the U.S. Air Force Preventive Medicine Residency Program, and numerous teaching and leadership positions. His medical specialty training and certifications include Preventive Medicine and Aerospace Medicine along with academic training in epidemiology.

Kristen Rossi, MPH
Contributing Editor

Kristen Rossi joined the MSMR as a Contributing Editor in March 2022, with over ten years of subject matter expertise in clinical informatics, epidemiology, and technical writing for several DOD and federal programs. Her most substantial public health projects for DOD programs include the development and coordination of laboratory surveillance activities for communicable diseases and cancer, featured in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics and Military Medicine. Prior to supporting federal health care agencies, Ms. Rossi held a position as an HIV epidemiologist with the Memphis Ryan White program and was a Peace Corps volunteer with the South African National Tuberculosis Association. She earned her MPH from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and holds a certification in SAS programming.

Angelia Eick-Cost, PhD,ScM
Contributing Editor

Dr. Angelia Eick-Cost joined the MSMR staff in August 2023 as interim editor-in-chief and now serves as a contributing editor. She has over 17 years of experience as a senior epidemiologist performing population-level medical surveillance, designing and conducting vaccine safety and effectiveness studies, and conducting and supporting research studies for AFHSD. She has provided critical evaluation of hundreds of research protocols requesting AFHSD support, and her projects and publications have been used to provide DOD and national advisory board policy-makers with scientific data to inform policy decisions. Prior to working with the DOD, Dr. Eick-Cost served as a research associate and study coordinator with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, an Emerging Infectious Disease Training Fellow at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and as a SERS program laboratory technician at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.  She earned her ScM and PhD in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

HyounKyoung Grace Park, PhD, MPH, BSN
Senior Technical Writer/Editor

Dr. HyounKyoung Grace Park joined the MSMR staff in December 2023. Dr. Park has developed, implemented, and evaluated various public health programs addressing adolescent sexuality, adolescent smoking, adolescent violence, arthritis, breastfeeding, breast cancer, cervical cancer, dementia, diabetes, domestic violence, HIV, obesity, and spirituality through both qualitative and quantitative methods, while teaching research and evaluation methodology at the University of Liverpool and other universities. Dr. Park also developed the Electronic Health Record for nurses for the first time in Korea and was nominated as a nurse expert by the International Council of Nurses. She earned her PhD in health education and promotion from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. 

Bulbulgul Aumakhan, PhD
Writer/Editor

Dr. Bulbulgul (Bulbul) Aumakhan joined the MSMR staff in October 2023. Her epidemiology experience includes academic, clinical, and public health field expertise. She has extensive experience in designing and managing observational surveillance studies and public health programs that addressed global health challenges, notably HIV/STI, TB, Zika, and COVID-19, both domestically and internationally, sponsored by global health donors. She has authored or co-authored over 30 research and technical reports, including peer-reviewed publications. She earned her PhD in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Robert Pursley, MA
Managing/Production Editor

Robert Pursley joined the MSMR staff in October 2022. From 2009 to 2021, he was the Program Coordinator for the Population Council’s Reproductive Health division, where he managed the production of technical research reports for approximately 50 concurrent public health projects that addressed a wide range of emerging and critical issues, primarily in low- and middle-income countries and frequently among vulnerable populations. He also provided editorial assistance for research papers submitted to leading peer-reviewed journals. Prior to the Population Council, he worked for the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Center for Health Humanities and Ethics. He earned his MA in English from the University of Virginia.

Gosia Nowak, MSc, MPH
EpiData Center Department Head
Defense Centers for Public Health – Portsmouth

Chelsea D. Johnson, BSC
Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force
Chair, Public Health and Preventive Medicine Department
Defense Centers for Public Health – Dayton

Steven B. Cersovsky, MD, MPH, FACPM
Colonel (retired), United States Army
Deputy Director
Defense Centers for Public Health – Aberdeen

Luke E. Mease, MD, MPH, FACOEM
Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army
Program Director, Public Health Residency
Joint Base Lewis McCord Department of Public Health
Turner Public Health Clinic, Madigan Army Medical Center

Amy Costello, MD, MPH, FAAP
Colonel, United States Air Force
Program Director, General Preventive Medicine Residency
Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics
Uniformed Services University

James D. Mancuso, MD, DrPH, FACPM
Colonel, United States Army
Professor and Chair
Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics
Uniformed Services University

John Iskander, MD, MPH
Captain, U.S. Public Health Service
Chief of Preventive Medicine and Population Health
U.S. Coast Guard
Department of Homeland Security

MSMR is a product of the Defense Health Agency, DHA Public Health, and the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division.

Telita Crosland, MD
Lieutenant General, United States Army
Director, Defense Health Agency

Brandon Taylor, PharmD
Rear Admiral, United States Public Health Service
Director, DHA Public Heath

Patrick Kennedy, MS
Colonel, United States Air Force
Chief, Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division

Natalie Wells, MD
Captain, United States Navy
Branch Chief, Epidemiology and Analysis (E&A) Section

Shauna Stahlman, PhD
Senior Managing Epidemiologist, Epidemiology and Analysis Section, Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division