Here you will find essential tools for complying with our editorial policies, including:

• Patient consent form
• Licence for publication statement
• Competing interests statement
• A sample title page
• and a variety of other checklists for authors, editors, and reviewers.

The only form we need to receive as a signed copy, however, is the patient consent form for seeking permission to publish personal information about identifiable living patients. This form is available in multiple languages.

You should seek the patient's consent to publication before submitting your article. Please save and print the form and add to it the relevant article's title (if/when the article has a BMJ manuscript number add this too). Then show the patient the version of the article that you are submitting and, if s/he gives permission for publication, please ask him or her (or, as appropriate, their next of kin - in which case please explain this on the form) to sign the form. Then send the completed form to us. You can do this in one of several ways:

• scan the signed and completed form into your computer and then email it to us as an attachment
• scan the signed and completed form into your computer and then upload it to our online editorial office as a supplement to the relevant submitted article
• send the signed hard copy to us at BMJ Editorial, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JR, marked for the attention of John Mayor

We do not need to receive signed copies of the statements regarding competing interests or the licence to publication: these are for information only. When submitting your article (or a revised version of it) you will be prompted at our online editorial office to tick two boxes, confirming that you have read and complied with our policies on competing interests and licence to publication. Please also ensure that your manuscript, whether in original or revised form, also includes your written statements of competing interests and licence to publication.

The information on how to compile a title page for your article and the checklists on various article types comprise guidance that we would like you to follow.

We hope that you will find the various editors' and reviewers' checklists helpful: we have provided them to give you insights into our peer review process.