Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

Covering Letter

Disclose all potential conflicts of interest, such as funding sources for consultancies or product studies. Provide comprehensive contact details for the corresponding author, including postal addresses, phone numbers (mobile and landline), and email IDs (primary and secondary). Briefly indicate the paper's importance and include a list of potential reviewers (up to 3) with their contact information. The suggested reviewers should work in the same area as the manuscript, and the decision to utilize their services rests with the chief editor's discretion.

Preparation of Manuscript

Manuscripts should be double-spaced, typed on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11") with 1" margins on all sides. Utilize Times New Roman font size 12. Ensure that the text and graphics use fonts restricted to Times New Roman, Symbol, and Zapf Dingbats.

 

A typical research paper should include the following in the given order.

 

The manuscript is to be arranged in the following order: (1) title, author(s), complete address(es) of institution(s), running title, and address for correspondence; (2) Abstract and keywords; (3) Introduction; (4) Materials and Methods; (5) Results; (6) Discussion; (7) Funding; (8) Acknowledgements; (9) References; (10) Figure legends; (11) Tables; (12) Figures; (13) Supplementary data; and (14) Author contributions statement.

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Copyright Form-download able from the journal site

The title page should include the title, names of authors, their affiliations, email IDs, corresponding author's name, email IDs, postal address, phone numbers (landline and mobile), and any acknowledgments.

 

Preparation of Manuscript

 

Manuscripts should be double-spaced, typed on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11") with 1" margins on all sides. Utilize Times New Roman font size 12. Ensure that the text and graphics use fonts restricted to Times New Roman, Symbol, and Zapf Dingbats.

 

A typical research paper should include the following in the given order.

Title

 

Should be in Title Case; The first character in each word in the title has to be capitalized. Authors’ names and affiliations should not be given.

 

Abstract

Should be structured and limited to 250 Words. A brief summary of the research should be given under the subheadings Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusions..

Key words

No more than six keywords are needed. Words appearing in the title should not be given as keywords. It is desirable to include the alternative words, if any under keywords e.g. the word ‘epinephrine’ . They should be written left aligned, arranged alphabetically in 12pt Times Roman, and the line must begin with the words Keywords boldfaced. A 12pt space should separate the keywords from the affiliations.

Introduction

Description of the research area, pertinent background information, and the hypotheses tested in the study should be included under this section. The introduction should provide sufficient background information such that a scientifically literate reader can understand and appreciate the work to be described. A detailed review of literature is not at all required under this section. The specific aims of the project should be identified along with rationale for the specific experiments and other work performed. The introduction MUST include in-text citations including a few references pertinent to the background and justification for the study.

Materials and Methods

Materials and/or subjects utilized in the study as well as the procedures undertaken to complete the work. The methods should be described in sufficient detail such that they could be repeated by a competent researcher. The sources of all major instruments and reagents used (kits, drugs, etc) must be given with parentheses. Illustrations and/or tables may be helpful in describing complex equipment or elaborate procedures. The statistical tool used to analyze the data should be mentioned. All procedures involving experimental animals or human subjects must accompany a statement on ethical approval from appropriate ethics committee.

Results

Data acquired from the research with appropriate statistical analysis described in the methods section should be included in this section. The results section should highlight the important results obtained. Data should be organized into figures and tables. Qualitative as well as quantitative results should be included if applicable.

Discussion/Conclusion

 

This section should relate the results section to current understanding of the scientific problems being investigated in the field. Description of relevant references to other work/s in the field should be included here. This section also allows the author to discuss the significance of the results - i.e. does the data support the hypotheses you set out to test? This section should end with new answers/questions that arise as a result of the author’s work.

Tables and Figures

Tables

Tables should be numbered with Roman numerals according to their sequence in the text, and have a short self-explanatory heading. Use SI units. Tables should include vertical rules, but horizontal rules should separate column headings from the content. Authors should keep in mind the page layout of the journal when designing tables. Tables that fit onto one printed page are preferred. Detailed explanations of symbols, units, and abbreviations should be given below the table.

Illustrations

Figures for final production should be submitted as electronic files and hard copy so that the editorial office can ensure that the output of electronic files matches the hardcopy. Please pay particular attention to the guidelines below. The editorial office cannot undertake preparation of manuscripts and illustrations not conforming to journal style. Manuscripts of insufficient quality will be returned immediately without refereeing. A high standard of illustration (both line and photo) is an editorial priority. All illustrations should be prepared for printing to fit 80 x 240 mm (column width) or 169 mm by up to 240 mm (full page) size. The authors should keep in mind that the full-page length is not used and the caption will be placed underneath the figure. In the event that full-page length is necessary for plates, captions will have to appear on adjacent pages. Figure(s) must be numbered consecutively in the text. Compound figures with more than one micrograph or photo should be referred by a single figure reference (e.g. Figure 1), and individual parts should be labeled with capitalized letters in the lower left-hand corner. Lettering should be of a sans-serif type (i.e. fonts without serifs such as Arial) with a minimum published size of 4.2 mm (12 pt). Descriptive labeling in the figures should be clearly readable, and all lettering should have a minimum published size of 6 pt (2.1 mm) for labeling items on photographs or in line art is recommended and a maximum size of 10 pt is suggested. Use a scale bar to indicate magnifications and place in the lower right corner if possible. Computer prepared photographic images must be at a minimum of 350 dpi at the final publication size. Lower resolution will result in pixilation and poor quality images. These should be submitted as JPEG or TIFF, but encapsulated postscript (EPS) format is also acceptable.

Computer drawn figures are accepted provided they are of high quality. Please note that graphs produced by many statistical packages are rarely adequate. In particular, letter quality on axes and captions are often poor. Such figures should be exported into an accepted graphics package and lettering rendered using a text function. Authors should note that .dot, .bmp, and .pat fills should be avoided. Do not use postscript fill patterns as these are often based on bit map patterns that result in screening patterns during final reproduction. When filling illustrations, use fills such as lines, tints or solids. Line width minimum is 0.25 pt (0.09 mm). Also avoid the use of bitmap scans to render text and detail. Text should be saved as text at a minimum text size of 6 pt (2.1 mm). Submit line art as Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator, or EPS files. These must be at a minimum resolution of 800 DPI at publication size. High resolution may be necessary where fine line detail is present.

For graphs, Excel graphs are also acceptable. Note that vertical axes must all be at the same scale especially when the paper compares them. Otherwise they should be produced as separate figures. Avoid 3D plots when presenting 2D data.

All tables and figures must be placed in appropriate places in the manuscript and when this is not possible, appropriate place must be indicated in the manuscript. Please note good quality figures must be submitted as separate files as said above apart from presenting a copy of the same at appropriate places in the manuscript. This will make job of the reviewer easy.

Table and Figure captions

Figure captions/legends should include a statement at the end of each caption/legend about reproduction size (e.g. at full page width, at column width). They should be single spaced and typed in the journal format. Explanations should be brief and authors should keep in mind that captions/legends will be placed below figures.

Acknowledgements

Those who have helped the authors carry out the study and/or prepare the manuscript but have not made significant intellectual contribution to deserve authorship must be acknowledged. Mention all applicable grants and other funding that supported the work.

Journal References

1. Single/Multiple Authors:

   - Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347(4): 284-7.

2. More than Six Authors:

   - Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002; 935(1-2): 40-6.

Chapter in a book

 

Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

 Conference proceedings

Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumors V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

 Thesis

N. Khoshakhlagh. The compositions of volatile fractions of Peganum harmala seeds and its smoke. Pharm. D. Thesis, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. (2002).