JOURNAL GUIDELINES
Authors Guidelines
Submission: For the purpose of this journal, all manuscripts should be typed in English, single-spaced and in single column format. Font size should be number 12. The manuscript together with a cover letter should be submitted as an email attachment to [email protected]. The cover letter should be addressed to: The Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Family Health Medical School (JFHMS).
Manuscripts submitted to the JFHMS must not have been submitted for publication in any other journal. This fact should be clearly stated in the cover letter. All manuscripts are subject to peer review.
Cover Letter: The letter submitting the manuscript to the Editor-in-Chief should be on institutional letterhead and signed by ALL authors. It must confirm the originality of the study, contribution of authors, acknowledge financial or commercial interests and the fact that it has not been submitted to another journal for consideration or published elsewhere.
Categories of Articles: The journal will consider manuscripts of the following categories for publication.
Original Article: Works to be considered under this section include detailed studies reporting new works of suitable standard. Such work must be innovative or contribute further to well established knowledge in a particular field. Manuscripts on all the medical specialties including the basic sciences, para-clinical and clinical sciences will be considered.
Special Article: Review articles, manuscripts on special medical events, clinical notes and clinical investigation will be accepted for publication under this section. Review articles should cite original works that lead to formulation of a concept, theory or hypothesis.
Case Report: Original short report that provides details of a single patient case. Case reports include detailed information on the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Extremely rare clinical syndromes or presentations will be accepted for publication under this section. A collection of cases highlighting particular trends or problems in clinical practice are also acceptable. In both instances, contributors are advised to give ample evidence in support of their claims.
Arrangement: The order of the text should be as follows: title page, abstract (structured) of not more than 250 words with 2-8 keywords (MeSH terms) at the bottom. The main text must be divided into the following sections: introduction, methods, results, discussion, acknowledgments, conflict of interest, references, tables, legends to figures and figures. All pages must be numbered consecutively, beginning with the title page
Title Page: The first page should include the title, names of authors, centre where the work was carried out and a short
running title. The full name and institutional address of the corresponding author, with phone numbers, and e-mail address must also be provided on the title page.
Abstract: A structured abstract (not more than 250 words) is required for original articles and must provide an overview of the entire paper, with succinct statements on objectives, methods, results and conclusions. For other types of manuscripts, a short summary may be adequate.
Tables: Tables must be typed on separate pages in word format and numbered consecutively. Each must have a brief
heading describing the contents. Tables must be referred to in the text and information in them not duplicated in the text.
Illustrations: Photographs, photomicrographs, electron micrographs and imaging figures must be of high quality and
submitted in three original copies. A size of 235 x 264 mm is advised and the figure number should appear on the back of each, together with an arrow indicating the top edge. For photomicrographs, details of stains and a scale bar should
be provided. Where patient’s identity is not concealed in a photograph, a written consent from the patient must be submitted. Charts and drawings must be done professionally. When charts are submitted, the numerical data on which they were based should be supplied.
Abbreviations: Abbreviations should be defined on first use and then applied consistently subsequently. Non-standard
abbreviations or those used less than three times in the text are not permitted.
Numbers and Units: Measurements must be reported in metric units only. Temperatures should be given in degrees
Celsius. Blood pressure should be expressed in mmHg. and haematological and biochemical measurements in SI (Systeme Internationale) units. Decimal points must be used appropriately and not commas.
References: References should be limited to those relating directly to the contents of the paper. References should be cited in sequence and numbered by Arabic numerals in superscript. They should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the manuscript. The list of references at the end of the article should follow the Vancouver referencing style.
Review Process: The JFHMS will peer-review all the material it receives. Manuscripts will be reviewed by external referees when it is deemed necessary. In studies that contain quantitative data and statistical inferences, the Editor may request that a statistician reviews them. For studies based on questionnaires, authors are required to attach the questionnaire to the manuscript, in order to facilitate the review process.
Proofs: Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author, preferably as an attachment to an e-mail. Corrected proofs should be returned with the least possible delay.
Ethical Issues: Where human investigations or animal experiments are part of the study, the journal assumes that the
study design has been approved by an appropriate ethical committee and approval number stated in the methodology
section. Where an appropriate ethical committee is not readily available, the principles of the Helsinki Declaration should be strictly adhered to and stated in the manuscript.
Disclaimer: The Editors and Publishers do not take responsibility for any errors or consequences arising from the use
of information contained in the journal. Views and opinions expressed in this journal do not necessarily reflect those of
the Editors and Publishers. Publication of adverts does not constitute endorsement by the Editors and Publishers of the
products advertised.
Frequency of Publishing: The Journal of Family Health Medical School is published bi-annually online and in print.
Copyright: The publisher reserves copyright on the journal’s contents. No part may be reproduced, translated or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including scanning, photocopying, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system without prior written permission from the publisher. The publisher shall not be held responsible for any inaccuracy of the information contained therein.
SUBMISSION PREPARATION CHECKLIST
Manuscripts that do not conform to the requirements of this journal shall be returned to the author(s) within three weeks from the date of submission. Returned manuscripts may be accepted for consideration if they are modified to an acceptable form. As part of the submission process, authors are required to make sure their submission complies with all of the following items.
- The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before any other journal for consideration.
- The submission file is in Microsoft Word document file format.
- The text is single-spaced; uses a font size of no. 12 and is in Times New Roman.
- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Guide for Authors.
- Author names should be First Name Middle Initial Surname (John B. Doe). Do not add titles and qualifications.
- Give the full institutional address of each author Provide information on Funding for the study.
- Provide information on funding for the study.
- Make sure Keywords are consistent with Medline MeSH expressions.
- Indicate the name of the institution and reference the number of ethical approvals obtained on the study protocol.
- Check citations in the text (Arabic numeral in superscript) and make sure that citations at the end of a sentence are
placed after the full stop NOT before it. They should NOT be in parentheses (), [ ] or underlined _. More than
one citation should be separated by commas (,) eg.1,2 If bibliographic software is used to generate the list of
references make sure they are not placed as footnotes or endnotes. - Check that the list of references is consistent with the citations and that the Journal names are in italics and as abbreviated as in Medline. The format is: Authors Title Journal Name Year; Volume (issue): pages
- Internet references should indicate the date of accession.
- References to unpublished communications should be kept in the text and not listed in the list of references.
- Tables should contain information relevant to findings and not a long list of frequency data. Tables should be constructed using the Microsoft Word Table format in columns and rows. Data should NOT be separated with
Tabs or spaces. Avoid putting legend/title to Table in the first row of the Table. - Figures should be clearly labeled and with an appropriate caption. Pie charts containing less than 4 variables should
be reported in words in the text. Give figures separate legends. Do NOT include the legend or title in the figure. - Clinical and radiological images should be data size minimized and presented in the JPEG format. They should be clear and sharp.