Guideline for Preparing Manuscript

The information below details the section headings that you should include in your manuscript and what information should be within each section.

The journal accepts articles in the following forms:

Title Page

The title page should include the following contents:

Title: A title should describe the article’s content clearly and precisely, and allow the reader to decide whether it would be appropriate to consult the article further. The title is the advertisement for the article – a poorly titled article may never reach its target audience, so be specific. Omit unnecessary words such as ‘A study of’, ‘Investigations of’, ‘Observations on’, etc. It should not have abbreviations and jargon. In short, the titles should:

• Identify the main issue of the paper in key words
• Begin with the subject of the paper
• Are accurate, unambiguous, specific, and complete
• Are as short as possible titles (5-15 words) are preferred however some titles may need to be longer in order for it to concisely convey the key content of the article

Authors: list the full names (first and last), academic title and institutional addresses for all authors. Corresponding author email and contact details

Who can qualify as author on an article? The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

The listing of authors should only include those who have made an intellectual contribution to the research, who will publicly take responsibility for the data and conclusions, and who have approved the final version. The order in which the names of the authors appear can vary however in most cases the corresponding author’s name appears first.

Contributors who meet fewer than all 4 of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged. Some examples of contributors that alone do not qualify a contributor for authorship are acquisition of funding; general supervision of a research group or general administrative support.

1. Rational for the research
2. Aim/objective of the research
3. Research question(s)
4. Past research in the area and gaps

Methods

The key purpose of this section is to provide the reader enough details so they can replicate the research. It should explain how the problem is studied, identify the procedures the author followed, and order these chronologically where possible. The methods identify the equipment and describe materials used and specify the source if there is variation in quality of materials. It should also include the frequency of observations, what types of data were recorded. It should also name any statistical tests used so that the numerical results can be validated. It is advisable to use the past tense, and avoid using the first person. The methods should specifically cover the following issues:

1. Design of the study
2. Place and time of the study
3. Sampling methods
4. Participants
5. Sample size
6. Variables: Dependent and independent variables
7. Measurements or tools used
8. Analysis methods: whether descriptive or inferential analysis
9. Ethics: In this section all governing laws and regulations regarding research as well as international ethical principles particularly relevant to the ethics of research involving human subjects i.e., the principles of respect of persons, beneficence and justice, should be covered. The ethics section should specifically spell out confidentiality of the information obtained, voluntary participation and obtaining consent of the potential participant before enrolling to the study.

Results

Results objectively present the findings, and explain in words what was found. This is where the article show that new results are contributing to the body of scientific knowledge, so it is important to be clear and lay them out in a logical sequence. Raw data are rarely included in a scientific article; instead, the data are analyzed and presented in the form of figures (graphs), tables, and/or descriptions of observations. It is important to clearly identify for the reader any significant trends. The result should present the characteristics of the participants, description of the key results, variables and other results. In addition, the results section should follow a logical sequence based on the table and figures that best presents the findings that answer the question or hypothesis being investigated. Tables and figures are assigned numbers separately, and should be in the sequence that the author refers to them in the text. Figures should have a brief description (a legend), providing the reader sufficient information to know how the data were produced. It is important not to interpret the results in the results section - this should be done in the Discussion section.

Discussion

In this section the author describes what his/her results mean, specifically in the context of what was already known about the subject of the investigation. The author should link back to the introduction by way of the question(s) or hypotheses posed. Author should indicate how the results relate to expectations and to the literature previously cited, whether they support or contradict previous theories. Most significantly, the discussion should explain how the research has moved the body of scientific knowledge forward. It is important not to extend conclusions beyond what is directly supported by the author’s results, so avoid undue speculation. It is advisable to suggest practical applications of results, and outline what would be the next steps in the study. In summary the discussion should cover the following issues:

1. General statement about key results
2. Interpretation of the results
3. Comparing of the findings with literature
4. Explaining the strengths and weaknesses of the research work
5. Discuss generalizability of the research findings

Conclusions

• Present global and specific conclusions
• Indicate uses and extensions if appropriate
• Indicate uses and extensions if appropriate
• Suggest further experiments or research and indicate whether they are underway
• Do not summarize the paper: The abstract is for that purpose

Acknowledgments

This section should be brief and include the names of individuals who have assisted with the study, including, contributors, suppliers who may have provided materials free of charge, etc.

Conflict of interest

Authors should also disclose in their article any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their article.

Supplementary material

Typically, raw data are not included in a scientific article. However, if the author believes the data would be useful, they can be included. Increasingly this is becoming more common as journals move to an online environment and the cost of including supplemental material is lowered. Supplementary material can include raw data tables, video footage, photographs, or complex 3D models. If the author has more than one set of materials to include, give each a separate number e.g., Appendix 1, Appendix 2, etc.

References

Whenever the author draws upon previously published work, he/she must acknowledge the source. Any information not from author’s experiment and not “common knowledge” should be recognized with a citation. Quotes that appear in the article, if long, should have their own indented paragraph. Otherwise, if they are in the natural flow of the article, they should be within quotation marks. In both cases they should include a reference. Personal communications and unpublished data shall not be cited, but instead they will be referred to in the text.

The references section at the end of the article includes all references cited in the article. This section is in contrast to a bibliography, common in books, where works read but not necessarily cited in the text are listed.

References must be adapted to Vancouver notation. The following reference formats are listed according to the type of document to be cited:

1. Original article or review: Author/s. Title. International abbreviation of the journal. Year; volume (number): first page-last page (with no repetition of tens, hundreds, etc.).
2. Original article or review in supplements: Author/s. Title. International abbreviation of the journal. Year; volume (supplement): first page-last page (with no repetition of tens, hundreds, etc.).
3. Articles awaiting publication: Author/s. Title. International abbreviation of the journal. (Awaiting, publication accepted “approval date”)
4. Books and monographies: Author/s. Title. Edition. Place of publication: editorial; year.
5. Chapter of a book:Author/s. Title of the chapter. In: Editor/s of the book. Title of the book. Edition. Place of publication: editorial; year.
6. Scientific or technical report: Author/s. Title of the report. Place of publication: institution, publishing or sponsoring agency; year.
7. Doctoral thesis: Author. Title. Edition. Place of publication: editorial; year.
8. Digital material:
   • Original article or review of the digital journal: Author/s. Title. International abbreviation of the journal [Internet journal]. Year [consultation date]; volume(number): first page-last page (with no repetition of tens, hundreds, etc.). Available at: URL (to avoid any possible mistakes do not place a full stop at the end of the URL address)
   • Monography on the internet: Author/s. Title [Internet monograph]. Edition. Place of publication: editorial; year [date of consultation]. Available at: URL (to avoid any possible mistakes do not place a full stop at the end of the URL address)
   • Web page: Author/s. Page title [Web page]. Place of publication: Editor; Date of creation [Date of update; Date of consultation]. Available at: URL (to avoid any possible mistakes do not place a full stop at the end of the URL address)
   • Internet database: Institution/author. Title [Internet database]. Place of publication: Editor; Date of creation [Date of update; Date of consultation]. Available at: URL (to avoid any possible mistakes do not place a full stop at the end of the URL address)