The Journal of Maritime Medicine is an online, practice-focused journal bringing together clinical, operational and medico-legal perspectives from shipboard and expedition environments.
Articles are published online as they become ready, following editorial review. Issues act as numbered containers and are not tied to specific calendar months. Each article receives an Article ID rather than a shared page range, allowing each PDF to maintain its own internal pagination (for example, pages 1–6 or 1–8) without later renumbering.
Structure & Citation
- Continuous online publication: articles go online individually once accepted and prepared.
- Volume: groups issues and reflects the life of the journal (for example, Volume 1 beginning in 2025).
- Issue: numbered sequentially within each volume and kept open until a practical number of articles (for example 10–12) have been published, after which the next issue opens.
- Article ID: each article is assigned a simple identifier within its issue
(Article 1, Article 2, etc.). A typical citation might read:
J Marit Med 2025;1(1):Article 1.
Clinical material is de-identified. Ships, companies and individuals are not directly identifiable, and clinical details may be adjusted where necessary to protect privacy while preserving the core learning points.
Published Articles
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Volumes & Issues
Use the sections below to expand each volume and issue. Titles and status notes are provisional and can be updated as manuscripts progress from outline to submission, review and publication.
Volume 1 — Inaugural Volume (from 2025)
Issue 1 — Inaugural Issue (open)
Article 1 — Successful Conservative Management of Acute Appendicitis in Antarctica
Article type: Case report with focused clinical review
Describes the assessment and conservative management of a patient with suspected acute appendicitis on an Antarctic itinerary where immediate evacuation was not available. The article outlines clinical reasoning, antibiotic strategy, monitoring, triggers for escalation and the structure of documentation to support later review.
Proposed citation: J Marit Med 2025;1(1):Article 1.
Internal PDF pagination: pages 1–6 (example).
Status: Drafting.
Article 2 — Neurological Presentations at Sea: Stroke, Mimics, and Documentation
Article type: Case-based clinical guidance
Practical approach to confusion, dysarthria and focal deficits in maritime practice, including telemedicine consultation, realistic examination, thresholds for diversion and suggested wording for contemporaneous notes that support both patient care and later scrutiny.
Proposed citation: J Marit Med 2025;1(1):Article 2.
Status: Planned for Issue 1.
Article 3 — Writing Defensible Medical Records in Maritime Practice
Article type: Operational / medico-legal
Suggested structures for daily notes, incident reports and discharge summaries that are realistic for lone clinicians on board and defensible when read by operators, insurers or courts months or years later. Includes examples of phrasing and common pitfalls.
Proposed citation: J Marit Med 2025;1(1):Article 3.
Status: Planned for Issue 1.
Issue 2 — To Open When Issue 1 Is Complete
Issue 2 will open once Issue 1 has reached a practical number of published articles. Themes are likely to include chronic disease management for crew and passengers, fitness-to-sail assessments and interfaces with occupational health and insurers.
Article 1 — Chronic Disease Management for Crew and Passengers: What Can Be Safely Done at Sea?
Article type: Practical guidance (provisional)
Approaches to diabetes, hypertension, anticoagulation and lipid management on board, with emphasis on safe limits of intervention, medication changes that should be avoided at sea, and structured handover to shore-based follow-up.
Proposed citation: J Marit Med 2025;1(2):Article 1.
Status: Concept stage for Volume 1, Issue 2.
Article 2 — Return-To-Work and End-Of-Contract Reports for Crew: Clinical and Legal Considerations
Article type: Operational / HR interface (provisional)
Practical suggestions for wording work restrictions, follow-up recommendations and return-to-work advice in crew medical assessments and end-of-contract documentation, including medico-legal considerations for shipboard clinicians.
Proposed citation: J Marit Med 2025;1(2):Article 2.
Status: Concept stage.
Future Volumes
Future volumes may place greater emphasis on medico-legal themes, complaint handling and expert opinion in maritime and expedition medicine, depending on the pattern of submissions and consulting work. Volume and issue numbering will remain conventional to support consistent citation, while Article IDs can continue to be used instead of shared page ranges.
Proposing an Article
Clinicians, operators or legal professionals with experience in maritime or expedition medicine who wish to propose an article or anonymised case series are invited to make initial contact via the Contact page. Please include your role, the proposed topic and confirmation that all material can be fully de-identified. Accepted pieces will be assigned to the current open issue and given an Article ID upon acceptance.
For detailed submission format, see the Author Guidelines page.