Submissions

Author Guidelines

1.1         Author Guidelines

1.1.1   General guidelines

Authors are required to upload as supplementary file a copy of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for all Original work and Case Reports submitted to the journal and the title page.

Manuscript text should be in Times New Roman font style with font size 12 and 1.5 line spacing. Italics should be used instead of underline except for Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)

1.1.2   Reporting Guidelines

Reporting guidelines have been developed for different study designs; examples include CONSORT for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and STARD for studies of diagnostic accuracy. Authors are required to follow these guidelines to describe the study in enough detail for review.

1.1.3   Manuscript Sections

The following are general requirements for reporting within sections of all study designs and manuscript formats.

1.1.3.1       Title Page

This page should include information on the article title, authors’ information, and conflict of interest statement, any disclaimers, and funding sources.

Article title. The title provides a snapshot of the complete article and should include information that will make electronic retrieval of the article sensitive and specific.

Author information: Each author's highest academic degrees and name of the department(s) and institution(s) or organizations should be listed. The full contact information of the corresponding authors (including postal mail, telephone number and email) should also be listed.

Conflict of Interest declaration: Any perceived, implied conflict of interest in the planning, conduct and reporting of the study should be indicated explicitly.

Authors should consult the disclosure form as provided by The ICMJE to assess the categories and areas of possible conflict of interest.

Sources of funding: Any grant or support used in funding the study should be indicated here.

The title page should not be part of the main manuscript.

1.1.3.2       Abstract

Original research, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses require structured abstracts. The abstract should be a distillation of the study following the required reporting guidelines. It should accurately reflect the content of the article and emphasize important aspects and significance of the study.

It is required that clinical trials provide the clinical trial registration number immediately after the abstract.

1.1.3.3       Main body of the manuscript

The main body of the manuscript reporting original research should as a minimum requirement follow the “IMRaD” structure. The “IMRaD” structure is divided into major sections of Introduction/Background, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections which follow the process of scientific discovery. If further organisation is deemed necessary by the author, these should be inserted as subheadings under the major sections described. The main body of the Manuscript should not contain any identifying information of the authors.

Articles often need subheadings within these sections to further organize their content. Other types of articles, such as meta-analyses, may require different formats, while case reports, narrative reviews, and editorials may have less structured or unstructured formats.

Introduction

Provide a background for the study revolving around the nature of the problem, its significance and then move on to indicate the specific purpose/aims or the hypothesis being tested.

Methods

Provide clear and adequately detailed information on how and why the study was done in a specific manner. This should also include methods of selection of participants and statistical tests used.

This section should also indicate the approval or waiver of the research by an Ethical review committee.

Results

Results should be presented in a logical sequence, emphasizing the most important findings. Do not repeat text in tables in the text of the manuscript.

Tables and figures should lend credence to the argument of the manuscript and should not duplicate information in each other.

Discussion and Conclusion

Discussion should move from the evidence provided towards exploring possible mechanisms and explanations of the findings. It should focus on the objectives or hypotheses being tested, the main argument of the manuscript and its implication for practice and future work.

1.1.3.4       References

List of references should be provided at the end of the study to enable reviewers to appropriately appraise the manuscript. The recommended referencing style is Vancouver Superscript. It is recommended that referencing is done electronically to ensure in-line references match the bibliography (list of references) at the end of the document. This can be done by using free tools such as Zotero and Mendeley.

1.1.4   Other guidelines

1.1.4.1       Tables

Tables should display information concisely and efficiently at a desirable level of detail and precision. Titles of tables should be short but informative. Each table should be cited in the text of the manuscript

1.1.4.2        Illustrations (Figures)

All figures and illustrations should be clear and well labelled. They should provide enough contrast with the background so they can be viewed well.

1.1.4.3        Units of Measurement

All units of measurement should be in SI units.

1.1.4.4        Abbreviations and Symbols

Authors are advised to use only standard abbreviations to prevent ambiguity and confusion with reviewers, editors or readers. All abbreviations (except the standard unit of measurement) should however be spelt out on the first mention followed by the abbreviation.