Instruction for authors

Submitted articles should be of Original Data

Title Page. The title page should include a word count for text only and the full names, highest academic degrees, and affiliations of all authors.

Abstracts An abstract of no more than 300 words should be included using the following headings: Introduction, Objective, Design, Patients and methods, Results, and Conclusions.

Objective: State the precise objective(s) of the article.

Design: Describe the basic design of the study. State the years of the study and the duration of follow-up.

Setting: Describe the study setting to assist readers to determine the applicability of the report to other circumstances, for example, general community, a primary care or referral center, private or institutional practice, or ambulatory or hospitalized care.

Patients or Other Participants: State the clinical disorders, important eligibility criteria, and key sociodemographic features of patients. The numbers of participants and how they were selected should be provided. If matching is used for comparison groups, characteristics that are matched should be specified. In follow-up studies, the proportion of participants who completed the study must be indicated. In intervention studies, the number of patients withdrawn because of adverse effects should be given. For selection procedures, these terms should be used, if appropriate: random sample (where random refers to a formal, randomized selection in which all eligible individuals have a fixed and usually equal chance of selection); population-based sample; referred sample; consecutive sample; volunteer sample; convenience sample.

Intervention(s): The essential features of any interventions should be described, including their method and duration of administration. The intervention should be named by its most common clinical name, and nonproprietary drug names should be used.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Indicate the primary study outcome measurement(s) as planned before data collection began. If the manuscript does not report the main planned outcomes of a study, this fact should be stated and the reason indicated. State clearly if the hypothesis being tested was formulated during or after data collection. Explain outcomes or measurements unfamiliar to a general medical readership.

Results: The main outcomes of the study should be reported and quantified, and must include measures of absolute risks (such as increase/decrease or absolute differences between groups), along with confidence intervals (for example, 95%) or P values. Approaches such as number needed to treat to achieve a unit of benefit may be included when appropriate. Measures of relative risk also may be reported (eg, relative risk, hazard ratios) and should include confidence intervals. Studies of screening and diagnostic tests should report sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratio. If predictive value or accuracy is reported, prevalence or pretest likelihood should be given as well. All randomized controlled trials should include the results of intention-to-treat analysis, and all surveys should include response rates.

Discussions: Where all the results should be interpreted and compared with other published data.

Conclusions: Provide only conclusions of the study directly supported by the results, along with implications for clinical practice, avoiding speculation and overgeneralization. Indicate whether additional study is required before the information should be used in usual clinical settings. Give equal emphasis to positive and negative findings of equal scientific merit.

Acknowledgment Section. The “Acknowledgment section” is the general term for the list of contributions, credits, and other information included at the end of the text of a manuscript but before the references. The Acknowledgment section includes authors’ contributions; information on author access to data; disclosure of potential conflicts of interests, including financial interests and relationships; sources of funding and support; an explanation of the role of sponsor(s); information on independent statistical analysis (if required); names, degrees, and affiliations of participants in a large study or other group; any important disclaimers; information on previous presentation of the information reported in the manuscript; and the contributions, names, degrees, affiliations, and indication if compensation has been received for all persons who have made substantial contributions to the work but who are not authors. Authors should obtain written permission to include the names of individuals in the Acknowledgment section.

References. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct text citation. Number references in the order they appear in the text; do not alphabetize. In text, tables, and legends, identify references with superscript Arabic numerals. When listing references , abbreviate names of journals according to the journals list in PubMed. List all authors and/or editors up to 6; if more than 6, list the first 3 followed by “et al.” Note: Journal references should include the issue number in parentheses after the volume number. The number of the references should not exceed 20 references.

Examples of reference style:
1. Bertram BA, Drews C, Gemmil M, et al. Inadequacy of polyester (mersilene) suture for the reduction of astigmatism after penetrating keratoplasty. Trans Am Ophthalmol Soc 1990;88:237-254 .
2. Lynfield R, Ogunmodede F, Guerina NG. Toxoplasmosis. In: McMillan JA, Feigin RD, DeAngelis CD, Jones MD Jr, eds. Oski’s Pediatrics: Principles and Practice. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2006:1351-1362.

Personal Communications and Unpublished Data. A signed statement of permission should be included from each individual identified as a source of information in a personal communication or as a source for unpublished data, and the date of communication and whether the communication was written or oral should be specified.

Tables. Number all tables in the order of their citation in the text. Include a title for each table (a brief phrase, preferably no longer than 10 to 15 words). Include all tables in a single file following the manuscript printed on high quality glossy paper. If a table must be continued, repeat the title on a second sheet, followed by “(cont).” Number of tables are limited to 6 .

Figures. Number all figures (graphs, charts, photographs, and illustrations) in the order of their citation in the text. Include a title for each figure (a brief phrase, preferably no longer than 10 to 15 words). The number should not exceed 6 figures and if merged group of figures should be handled as one figure. Each figure should be printed on high quality glossy paper. For initial manuscript submissions, figures must be of sufficient quality for editorial assessment and peer review.

Ethical Approval of Studies and Informed Consent. For all manuscripts reporting data from studies involving human participants or animals, formal review and approval, or formal review and waiver, by an appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee is required and should be described in the Methods section.
Trial Registration: For clinical trials, the name of the trial registry, registration number, and URL of the registry must be included.

Survey Research. Survey studies should have sufficient response rates (generally at least 60%) and appropriate characterization of nonresponders to ensure that nonresponse bias does not threaten the validity of the findings.

Authorship Responsibility: All authors (ie, the corresponding author and each coauthor) must sign statements on Authorship Responsibility, Criteria, and Contributions; Financial Disclosure and Funding/Support.

Group Authorship. All members of the group must meet the full criteria and requirements for authorship otherwise a group must designate 1 or more authors who will serve on behalf of all coauthors as the primary correspondent with the editorial office during the submission and review process.

Editorial and Peer Review. All submitted manuscripts are reviewed initially by the editor in chief. Manuscripts are evaluated according to the following criteria: material is original and timely, writing is clear, study methods are appropriate, data are valid, conclusions are reasonable and supported by the data, information is important, and topic has general medical interest. From these basic criteria, the editors assess a paper’s eligibility for publication. Manuscripts with insufficient e expert consultants for peer review. Peer reviewer identities and author identities are kept confidential and not declared to each other.

Corrections. Requests to publish corrections should be sent to the editorial office. Corrections are reviewed by editors and authors then published promptly.

Language corrections: All articles should be revised by a specialized language center and be accompanied by a certificate denting this.

Duplicate/Previous Publication or Submission. Manuscripts are considered with the understanding that they have not been published previously in print or electronic format and are not under consideration by another publication or electronic medium. Copies of related or possibly duplicative materials (ie, those containing substantially similar content or using the same or similar data) that have been previously published or are under consideration elsewhere must be provided at the time of manuscript submission.
 

Reference

http://jama.ama-assn.org/misc/ifora.dtl
Editorial Policies for Authors