The Milbank Quarterly is devoted to scholarly analysis of significant issues in health and health care policy. It presents original research, synthesis, policy analysis, and commentary from academicians, clinicians, and policymakers. The in-depth, multidisciplinary approach of the journal permits contributors to explore fully the social origins of health in our society and to examine in detail the implications of different health policies. Contributions are published from many disciplines, including history, law, medicine, epidemiology, bioethics, and the full array of social science and health services research disciplines. Topics addressed in The Milbank Quarterly include but are not limited to the impact of social factors on health, disease prevention, allocation of health resources, legal and ethical issues in health policy, health care management, historical analysis of health policies, and the organization and financing of health care.

Manuscript Submissions

Submissions should be sent electronically to the Quarterly. Please email Word files of the manuscript to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The editor, Bradford H. Gray, will make an initial determination about the suitability of the manuscript for the Quarterly. Manuscripts that are potentially suitable will be subject to blind peer review regarding scholarly soundness and substantive significance. When the manuscript is submitted and in order for external review to occur, the corresponding author must submit forms signed by each author indicating that he or she has read and complied with The Milbank Quarterly's publication policies. (The "corresponding author" is the author responsible for negotiations and the person to whom correspondence will be sent.)

Questions about the submission process may be directed to Tara Strome, publications associate, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Specifications for Manuscripts

Before submitting your manuscript, please be sure you have prepared it according to the following instructions.

Length

The length of submitted text ordinarily should not exceed thirty pages, including the abstract and references. Longer papers will be considered on occasion, but additional length must be justified by the corresponding author.

Formatting

All text must be typed double-spaced using Times New Roman 12-point font, with tabs to indicate new paragraphs. All pages must be paginated consecutively and include line numbers.

Title Pages

On the title page include the names, academic degrees, and affiliations of all authors, as well as any acknowledgments, including sponsorship. List the authors in the order their names are to appear on the title page. Also provide the complete address, telephone number, and email address of the corresponding author.

To facilitate blind review, include a second title page with only the manuscript title. In addition, please eliminate any internal information (including acknowledgment of funding sources and self-identifications in citations) that reveals authorship.

Structured Abstract

Manuscripts must include a structured abstract of 250 to 300 words using the following headings:

Context: The abstract should begin by explaining the article's background, objectives, and salience for policy and research.

Methods: Describe the procedures used to obtain and analyze data and/or research materials.

Findings: Summarize the results of your analyses.

Conclusions: Summarize the implications of the findings for policy, practice, and further research.

Keywords

The structured abstract should be accompanied by up to four keywords for indexing. Keywords used by MEDLINE/PubMed's MeSH system are preferred because they facilitate searches(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=mesh), but terms not in MeSH may be used when MeSH terminology is not adequate.

Systematic Reviews

For the convenience of reviewers, manuscripts that are systematic reviews should be accompanied by the protocol used by the authors to conduct the review unless that information is provided in the body of the manuscript.

Artwork

Tables and figures should be explicitly mentioned in text and be numbered consecutively in arabic numerals (e.g., table 1, table 2, figure 1, figure 2). Tables and figures should be self-explanatory and include a title; each figure should have a separate legend. Submitted artwork should be in printer-ready format, in black and white, and sized to fit within the Quarterly’s page space of 4.3 by 6.9 inches, using Times New Roman for text. Be sure to obtain permission from the publisher to reprint any art from other sources.

References

All sources used in preparing your manuscript should be properly acknowledged. In the text, cite the author's surname and year of publication within parentheses, e.g., (Aronowitz 2010). For two or three authors, list the surnames of each author followed by the year, e.g., (Habbema, De Kok, and Brown 2012; Zwanziger and Kahn 2008). When there are more than three authors, list the surname of the first author followed by "et al." and the year, e.g., (Smith et al. 2010). If there are two or more references with the same author(s) and year, add letters to follow the year, e.g., (Fisher et al. 2003a, 2003b). Multiple citations should be listed in alphabetical order and separated by semicolons, e.g., (Arnett 2011; Gostin 2008; Habbema, De Kok, and Brown 2012; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2010). The dates for multiple citations by the same author(s) should be separated by commas, e.g., (Zwanziger and Kahn 2006, 2008). The Quarterly does not use footnotes and discourages the use of endnotes—except when citing legal sources—unless the content is necessary and cannot be incorporated into the text. For interviews and other personal communications, the person’s full name and date of communication should be cited in text, but need not be listed in the references, e.g., "According to Paul Thompson (interview, April 16, 2012), . . ."

References should be listed at the end of the article, alphabetically (chronologically, with the earliest year first for multiple entries by a particular author), and unnumbered. List all authors; do not use "et al." The citations must be complete, and titles of books, journals, and articles should not be abbreviated, as in the following examples:

Arnett, P. 2011. Local Health Department Changes over the Past Twenty Years, dissertation. Lexington: University of Kentucky.

Aronowitz, R.A. 2010. Vaccines against Cancer. In Three Shots at Prevention: The HPV Vaccine and the Politics of Medicine’s Simple Solutions, ed. K. Wailoo, J. Livingston, S. Epstein, and R. Aronowitz, 21–38. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Fisher, E.S., D.E. Wennberg, T.A. Stukel, D.J. Gottlieb, F.L. Lucas, and E.L. Pinder. 2003a. The Implications of Regional Variations in Medicare Spending. Part 1: The Content, Quality, and Accessibility of Care. Annals of Internal Medicine 138(4):273–87.

Fisher, E.S., D.E. Wennberg, T.A. Stukel, D.J. Gottlieb, F.L. Lucas, and E.L. Pinder. 2003b. The Implications of Regional Variations in Medicare Spending. Part 2: Health Outcomes and Satisfaction with Care. Annals of Internal Medicine 138(4):288–98.

Gostin, L.O. 2008. Public Health Law: Power, Duty, Restraint. 2nd ed. Berkeley/New York: University of California Press/Milbank Memorial Fund.

Habbema, D., I.M.C.M. De Kok, and M.L. Brown. 2012. Cervical Cancer Screening in the United States and the Netherlands: A Tale of Two Countries. The Milbank Quarterly 90(1):5–37.

Smith, A., M. Schonberg, J. Fisher, D. Pallin, S. Block, L. Forrow, and E. McCarthy. 2010. Emergency Department Experiences of Acutely Symptomatic Patients with Terminal Illness and Their Family Caregivers. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 39(6):972–81.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2010. Occupation Employment Statistics, May 2007. National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates United States. Available at http://www.bls.gov/oes/2007/may/oes_nat.htm#b00-0000 (accessed June 27, 2010).

Zwanziger, J., and N. Khan. 2006. Safety-Net Activities and Hospital Contracting with Managed Care Organizations. Medical Care Research and Review 63(6):90S–111S.

Zwanziger, J., and N. Khan. 2008. Safety-Net Hospitals. Medical Care Research and Review 65(4):478–95.