CME Credit Guidelines for Journal Manuscript Review
Needs Assessment Statement: The Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) has a
responsibility to maintain an ongoing knowledge and understanding of the most current issues in healthcare
epidemiology and infection prevention, thus ensuring physicians and other healthcare practitioners are providing
the highest standards of patient care. One method of maintaining that standard is through the manuscript review
process. Review of manuscripts being considered for publication in SHEA's journal Infection Control and
Hospital Epidemiology (ICHE) provides a platform for reviewers to refine their skills in performing critical
analysis of the literature. Such review ultimately increases the quality of the published science by ensuring
assessment based on expert perspectives from practice and via a mechanism free from conflict of interest.
Target Audience: The target audience is physicians in clinical practice, research and public health, who are
active in multidisciplinary fields, including infectious disease, internal medicine, healthcare epidemiology,
microbiology, and pediatrics.
Learner Objectives:
Upon completion of this CME activity, participants will be able to:
 Demonstrate skills in performing critical analyses of the medical literature and knowledge of current issues
and developments in epidemiology and infection prevention
 Conduct an appropriate review of the literature related to the proposed manuscript and, when available, a
review of the evidence-based clinical data related to the proposed manuscript
 Prepare a confidential review without conflict of interest.
 Produce a standardized, concise, constructive, and timely (i.e. submitted on or before the official due date)
evaluation that is balanced and objective, avoiding any personal comments
 Perform a thorough review of the proposed manuscript thereby identifying its strengths and areas needing
improvement prior to publication
Accreditation Statement: The Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) is accredited by the
Accreditation Council on Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for
physicians. SHEA designates this manuscript review activity for a maximum of 3.0 AMA PRA Category 1
Credit(s) ™ activity with a maximum of 15 credits per year. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate
with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Disclosure Information: In compliance with ACCME's Standards for Commercial Support of Continuing
Medical Education, anyone in a position to influence content is required to disclose any real or apparent conflicts
of interest relating to the topics addressed in this review activity. On the basis of disclosed information, SHEA
identifies and resolves all conflicts of interest before issuing CME credits.
Editor-in-Chief
Suzanne F. Bradley, MD
 Consultant: Merck
Deputy Editor
Carol A. Kauffman, MD
 Researcher: Merck
 Other: Chair DSMB, Merck; Chair Data Adjudication Committee, Pfizer
Associate Editors
Carol Chenoweth, MD
 No financial relationships to report
Ebbing Lautenbach, MD
 Research: 3M, Cubist, Astra-Zeneca
David Weber, MD, MPH
 Consultant: Merck, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi-Aventis, Germitec, Ortho-McNeill
 Speakers Bureau: Merck Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Clorox, Sanofi-Aventis, Germitec, Ortho-McNeil
Managing Editor
Rob Blixt, MA
 No financial relationships to report
Measured Outcomes (Knowledge): Results are measured through learner self-report in the activity evaluation
and through objective observation by the supervising editors who assure the review meets CME requirements.
Content Validation Statement: The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America accepts the following
Content Validation Statements and expects all persons involved in its professional education activities to abide
by these statements with regard to any recommendations for clinical care.
All recommendations involving clinical medicine are based on evidence accepted within the profession of
medicine as adequate justification for their indications and contradictions in the care of patients; AND/OR all
scientific research referred to or reported in support or justification of a patient care recommendation conforms
to generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection, and analysis.
Responsibility of the Editors: The Editor-in-Chief directs and supervises the policies of the ICHE journal and
is responsible for maintaining its scientific and literary quality. The Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor, and
Associate Editors are responsible for ensuring that all authors receive confidential, expert, critical, and unbiased
reviews of their work in a timely fashion. The editors and members of the editor's staff should not disclose any
information about a manuscript submitted for review to anyone except the reviewers or authors or those working
on their behalf.
Responsibility of the Reviewers: The critical and confidential review of manuscripts is an essential element of
research publications. Among the obligations of reviewers is the commitment to providing an expert, critical,
and constructive scientific and literary appraisal of research reports in their fields of knowledge, skills, and
experience in a fair and unbiased manner. In order to facilitate the prompt sharing of scientific results, it is also
the obligation of each reviewer to complete their assignments promptly, within the editor's deadline.
NOTE: Please fill out the proceeding two pages, resave, and upload entire document along with
your review.
Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology - Conflict of Interest Disclosure
To receive CME credit for your review, you must save a completed version of this form and submit it with your
review. Be sure to complete both pages!
Reviewers are responsible for disclosing financial and other potential conflicts of interest when they are seeking
CME credit for their reviews. There is a potential conflict of interest when anyone involved in the publication
process has a financial or other beneficial interest in the products or concepts mentioned in a submitted
manuscript or in competing products that might bias his or her judgment.
Financial support that the reviewers received should be noted below and disclosures must include the name of
the commercial interest and the relationship (stock, consultant, etc.). Disclosures should be listed for a 2-year
period.
Reviewer Name
MS Number
Article Title
Please describe your areas of expertise that were utilized to review this article:
Check here if you have NO conflict with any manufacturer of a product discussed in the manuscript. If
this box is not checked, describe in the space below what conflict you have with a manufacturer of a
product discussed in the manuscript.
Check here if you have NO conflicts of interest to disclose. If this box is not checked, all conflicts of
interest, or any relevant financial relationship, must be listed below or on a separate page.
I certify that I have no conflict with the authors of the above-mentioned manuscript and have disclosed all
conflicts of interest to the Editors.
Date:
EXAMPLE OF DISCLOSURES:
Recent Research Funding: Bayer Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
Consultant: AstraZeneca, Aventis Pharmaceuticals
Speakers' Bureau: Pfizer, Inc., Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories
REVIEWER’S CERTIFIED DISCLOSURES:
GO TO NEXT PAGE
Evaluation of Manuscript Review Program
1. The learning objectives were met through participation in the review process.
Yes
No
2. This review process prompted me to critically review existing literature.
Yes
No
3. This review process prompted me to synthesize the existing literature with the contents of the proposed
manuscript.
Yes
No
4. This review prompted me to identify the strengths of an areas needing improvement in the proposed
manuscript.
Yes
No
5. Please describe what you learned from participating in this manuscript review process and how you plan to
apply it to your practice.