Guide for Authors

Instructions for Manuscript Preparation and Submission

Authors are requested to follow the instructions below when preparing their manuscripts. Manuscripts that do not comply with these requirements may be returned to the authors for technical revision before entering the editorial review process.

1. General Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatically correct English.

Use Times New Roman, 12-point font.

Number all pages consecutively.

Define all abbreviations at their first appearance in the text and use them consistently throughout the manuscript.

Submit the manuscript in an editable Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx).

2. Manuscript Organization

The manuscript should be organized into the following sections:

2.1. Title Page

The title page should include:

  • Article title: The title should be concise, informative and descriptive of the study. It should preferably not exceed 150 characters, including spaces.
  • Authors’ names: Provide the full names of all authors in the order in which they should appear in the published article.
  • Institutional affiliations: Include the department, institution, city and country for each author. Use superscript numbers to identify the affiliations corresponding to each author.
  • Corresponding author: Clearly identify the corresponding author and provide their full name, institutional affiliation, postal address and email address.
  • ORCID: Authors are encouraged to provide their ORCID identifiers.
  • The abstract must not exceed 250 words.
  • It should be presented on a separate page.
  • For original research articles, the abstract should be structured under the following headings:
    • Background
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Conclusions
  • The abstract should provide a concise summary of the study objectives, methodology, principal findings and conclusions.
  • References and unexplained abbreviations should not be included in the abstract.
  • Provide 3–6 keywords immediately after the abstract.
  • Keywords should preferably be selected from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) database.

The Introduction should:

  • Provide a brief overview of the relevant background and current knowledge of the research topic.
  • Identify the existing knowledge gap or research problem.
  • Explain the scientific or clinical rationale for conducting the study.
  • Clearly state the study objectives and, where applicable, the research hypothesis.

The Methods section should provide sufficient information to allow other researchers to reproduce the study.

Authors should include the following information, as applicable:

Study Design and Participants

  • Specify the study design, setting and duration.
  • Describe the study population, participant selection criteria and recruitment procedures.
  • Clearly define inclusion and exclusion criteria.
  • Describe the interventions, procedures and outcome measures.

Ethical Considerations

  • Studies involving human participants must comply with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
  • Provide the name of the research ethics committee or institutional review board that approved the study and the corresponding approval/reference number.
  • State whether informed consent was obtained from participants, where applicable.
  • For studies involving animals, provide details of approval by the relevant animal ethics committee and compliance with applicable animal research guidelines.

Clinical Trials

  • Clinical trials should be registered in a publicly accessible clinical trial registry.
  • Provide the name of the registry and the registration number.

Materials and Procedures

  • Include the sources of chemicals, reagents and hormones, specifying the manufacturer’s name and location (city and country).
  • Provide the generic names, doses and routes of administration of all drugs.
  • Specify the composition of buffers, solutions and culture media, where relevant.
  • Describe established methods with appropriate references and provide full details of any modifications.
  • Specify the type of equipment used, including microscopes, objective lenses, cameras and detectors, where applicable.
  • Identify image acquisition and analysis software, including version numbers where relevant.

Statistical Analysis

  • Describe the statistical methods used to analyze the data.
  • Identify the statistical software and version used.
  • Specify the statistical tests, significance levels and methods used to handle missing data, where applicable.
  • Report the statistical measures used, including confidence intervals and P values, as appropriate.

The Results section should present the study findings in a clear and logical sequence.

  • Present the findings in the order of the study objectives or research questions.
  • Report relevant numerical data and statistical findings accurately.
  • Include appropriate statistical measures, such as confidence intervals and P values, where applicable.
  • Present important findings using tables and figures when appropriate.
  • Avoid unnecessary repetition of information already presented in tables or figures.
  • Do not include extensive interpretation or discussion of the findings in this section.

The Discussion should interpret the study findings and explain their scientific and clinical significance.

Authors should:

  • Summarize the principal findings of the study.
  • Interpret the results in relation to previously published literature.
  • Discuss the similarities and differences between the current findings and existing evidence.
  • Explain the potential clinical or scientific implications of the findings.
  • Highlight the strengths and limitations of the study.
  • Provide recommendations for future research where appropriate.
  • Avoid conclusions that are not supported by the study results.

The Discussion should end with a concise conclusion highlighting the main findings and their relevance.

References must follow the Vancouver referencing style and be numbered consecutively according to their first appearance in the manuscript.

In-text Citations

  • References should be cited in the text using Arabic numerals in square brackets, e.g., [1], [2] or [1,2].
  • When citing multiple consecutive references, use a hyphen, e.g., [1–3].
  • Each reference must be assigned a unique number based on its first appearance in the manuscript.
  • The same reference should retain the same number wherever it is cited throughout the manuscript.
  • The reference list must be arranged numerically in the order in which references first appear in the text, not alphabetically.

Reference List Formatting

  • List all references in numerical order.
  • For journal articles, provide the authors’ surnames and initials, article title, abbreviated journal name, year of publication, volume, issue (if applicable) and page range or article number.
  • List up to six authors. If there are more than six authors, list the first six followed by et al.
  • Include the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) whenever available, in the format: https://doi.org/xxxxx
  • Authors are responsible for ensuring that all references are accurate, complete and cited in the manuscript.

Examples

1. Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of the article. J Abbrev. 2023;12(4):125–132.
https://doi.org/xxxxx

  • Tables should be concise, clear and informative.
  • Number tables consecutively according to their first appearance in the text.
  • Each table should have a descriptive title placed above the table.
  • Provide appropriate headings for all columns.
  • Tables should be submitted in an editable format and should not be embedded as images.
  • Avoid internal vertical lines, excessive horizontal lines, colors and shading.
  • Use footnotes to provide additional explanatory information.
  • Explain all abbreviations, symbols, and statistical terminology used in the table in the footnotes.
  • Ensure that all tables are cited in the manuscript in numerical order.
  • Tables that exceed the journal’s publication requirements may be considered for supplementary material.
  • Original research articles should not exceed 10 figures.
  • Figures should be mentioned in the text.
  • Number figures consecutively according to their first appearance in the text.
  • Each figure must have a corresponding legend.
  • Figure legends should be provided on separate pages following the reference list or in the designated figure legend section.
  • Legends should include the figure number, a concise description of the figure, explanations of symbols and abbreviations, and relevant statistical information.
  • For figures containing multiple panels, identify each panel clearly using capital letters (A, B, C, etc.).
  • Use Arial or a similar sans-serif font for figure labels.
  • Figures should be submitted as separate, high-resolution image files.
  • Do not enclose figures in unnecessary borders or boxes.
  • Ensure that symbols, labels and annotations remain legible when figures are reduced for publication.
  • Patient-identifying information must be removed unless appropriate consent for publication has been obtained.
  • Previously published figures or other copyrighted materials require permission from the copyright holder.

For original research articles, the following limits apply:

Main text

5,000–7,000 words.

Abstract

Maximum 250 words.

Keywords

3–6.

References

Maximum 50.

Figures

Maximum 10.

The main-text word count excludes the title page, abstract, references, tables and figure legends.

Before submission, authors should ensure that:

  • The manuscript follows the required section structure.
  • All tables and figures are numbered and cited in the correct order.
  • All references are cited in the text and follow the Vancouver style.
  • Abbreviations are defined at their first appearance.
  • Ethical approval and informed consent statements are included, where applicable.
  • The manuscript has been checked for spelling, grammar and language accuracy.
  • All required declarations are included.

3. Ethical Considerations and Publication Policies

3.1. Originality and Duplicate Submission
  • Submitted manuscripts must be original and must not have been published previously, except in forms permitted by accepted publication practices.
  • Manuscripts must not be under consideration by another journal at the time of submission.
  • Any previous publication or dissemination of the manuscript content, including preprints, should be disclosed to the editorial office.
  • All listed authors must have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data.
  • All authors must participate in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it.
  • All authors must approve the final version and agree to be accountable for the integrity of the work.
  • Contributions from all authors should be clearly stated in an Author Contributions section.

Authors must disclose all sources of financial support received for the research and manuscript preparation. If no funding was received, this should be explicitly stated.

All authors must disclose any financial or non-financial relationships that could influence, or be perceived to influence, the research or its interpretation.

If no conflicts exist, authors should state: “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”

Authors should provide a Data Availability Statement indicating whether the data supporting the findings are available and, where applicable, how they can be accessed.

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the authorship criteria may be acknowledged. Authors should obtain permission from individuals named in the acknowledgments.

Authors must disclose the use of generative artificial intelligence tools in manuscript preparation or other relevant aspects of the research, in accordance with the journal’s AI policy.

AI tools cannot be listed as authors, and authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality and integrity of the submitted work.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce previously published figures, tables or other copyrighted material and for providing appropriate acknowledgment of the original source.