Get your BMJ Mental Health paper right the first time: a ready-made structure with the right abstract and citations, so editors see your science, not formatting slips.
4.1
Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 30 July, 2026
Submitting to BMJ Mental Health goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the BMJ Mental Health guide for authors before peer review, so formatting, structure, and required statements should be right on the first draft rather than repaired during upload. This template sets that structure up for you.
It is a manuscript shell aligned to BMJ Mental Health. It covers front matter, the abstract the journal expects, a body organized to the journal's article types, and a reference list in the journal's required style. Confirm current scope and article types on the BMJ Mental Health journal page before you draft.
Prepare the title, authors, affiliations, and ORCID iDs. Write the abstract to the journal's rule and word limit, organize the body to the article type, and apply the required reference style from the first citation. Complete every declaration (ethics, competing interests, funding, data availability) the BMJ Mental Health guide for authors lists, and cite figures and tables in order.
The common failure modes are formatting or reference style that does not match the guide for authors, missing required statements, and an incomplete portal checklist. Clear all three against the BMJ Mental Health guide for authors before you submit.
The shell mirrors what editorial staff check first: article-type fit, the abstract rules, required declarations, and the journal's reference style. For more detail see the author resources. When your draft is ready, upload it through ScholarOne (Manuscript Central).
| Element | BMJ Ment Health requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Original Research: 350 words, structured (Background, Objective, Methods, Findings, Conclusions, Clinical implications); Systematic Review: 250 words, structured (Question, Study selection and analysis, Findings, Conclusions); Perspective: 250 words, unstructured |
| Main text | Editorial: 1,500 words; Perspective: 1,500 words; Clinical review: 3,000 words; Systematic review: 3,500 words; Statistics in practice: 3,500 words; Original research: 4,000 words; Short report: 800 words; Correspondence: 400 words |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| References | Vancouver style (numbered citations) |
| Peer review | Single-blind (single anonymised peer review - reviewer names hidden from authors) |
| Submission | mc.manuscriptcentral.com/bmjment |
| Keywords | Author keywords not requested in the journal's author guidelines |
Read the BMJ Mental Health guide for authors once before drafting and once before upload. Draft the abstract after results are stable. Set the reference style before adding citations. Keep a cover letter that states your contribution and fit to BMJ Mental Health in under a page.
Skim two or three recent BMJ Ment Health papers to calibrate depth and figure style. Make the novelty clear in the first two pages. Deposit data and code when the policy on the BMJ Mental Health journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the BMJ Mental Health guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through ScholarOne (Manuscript Central).