Submission Instruction

 | Post date: 2023/12/25 | 
 Submission of Manuscripts

All manuscripts must be submitted online through the website: (https://hmj.hums.ac.ir/Login) . First-time users will have to register at this site. Manuscripts submitted via email are not processed.
The Hormozgan Medical Journal is a signatory journal to the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, issued by the ICMJE. Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with “ICMJE Recommendations.” The uniform requirements and specific requirement of Hormozgan Medical Journal are summarized below. Before submitting a manuscript, authors are requested to check for the latest instructions available. Instructions are also available from the website of the journal https://hmj.hums.ac.ir.
Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their username and password. The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the “Authors' Guidelines” would be returned to the authors for technical correction before they undergo editorial/peer-review stage. Generally, the manuscript should be submitted in the form of several separate files:

[1] Font:
Times New Roman; 14 points font size(bold) title, 12 (bold) for subheadings, 12 for the manuscript body.

[2] Title page:
This file should provide:
1. Manuscript Type: please see the details from the “Types of Manuscripts” section.
2. The title of the manuscript
3. Authors’ Information: names of all authors/ contributors and name(s) of department(s) and/ or institution(s) to which the work should be credited.
4. Disclaimers, Conflict of Interest Disclosures, Funding/Support, Ethical Statement/Informed Consent, and Author’s Contribution:
  • Conflict of Interest Disclosures: All authors must disclose all conflicts of interest; they may have with publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflicts of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript. All sources of funding should be declared; otherwise the following sentence should be stated “The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests”.
  • Disclaimer: A section of disclaimer is required to discrete the opinions of the authors from funding sources, organizations or others. For example: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.
  • Funding/Support: Authors should provide any information regarding funding sources (including "grant ID", contract numbers, the name of the grant-receiving researcher, and the grant provider).
  • Author’s Contribution: Based on ICMJE Recommendations, the contributions of all authors should be clearly stated. Authors should provide a description of contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. The description should be divided in following categories, as applicable: concept, design, the definition of intellectual content, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing, and manuscript review. One author should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article and should be designated as ‘corresponding author’.
For example:
Author’s Contribution: MZR, FZR, and AV: Conceptualization, the original draft writing, investigation, and formal analysis; ZSD and EKA: Conceptualization, supervision, and project administration; EE and ATK: Conceptualization, and project administration; MP, FR, and SH: Investigation; MS and MND: Writing including reviewing and editing and investigation.
  • Ethical Statement: This is a mandatory section in all types of articles that should be addressed by authors in submission process. We strongly recommend that authors consider guidelines provided by ICMJEand Equator Network.
Note. If there are no ethical considerations, declare it as “Not applicable” or “None declared”.

Ethical Policies
  • The HMJ expects the highest ethical standards from their authors, reviewers, and editors when conducting research, submitting papers, and throughout the peer-review process.
The HMJ adheres to the policies of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations. Thus, the HMJ expects all authors, reviewers, and editors to consider COPEICMJE, and Equator Network’s reporting guidelines in scientific writing.

Human and Animal Ethics
Authors reporting experimental studies on human subjects must include an ethical approval statement in Method Section indicating (a) informed consent was taken from all patients enrolled in the study and (b) the study protocol conforms to the ethical guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki as reflected in a priori approval by the institution's human research committee. For protecting the safety of individuals who participate in the study, academic and funding organizations require any study, including human participants, be approved by an institutional review board (IRB) or ethics review committee. In studies involving animal experimentations, all criteria highlighted in the "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" should be addressed.

Patient Consent
The protection of privacy and information of patients in the article is necessary for the publication field. Before submitting any article to journals, including medical interventions, new materials, or drug experiments, informed consent should be obtained, and possible adverse effects or hazards, the purpose of study, and types of methods and procedures must be explained to all enrolled patients. All authors should complete the forms that clarify their responsibilities and awareness about COPE regulations.
About deceased patients, the correspond of study can obtain informed consent from his relatives, family, or guardian (for children and minors).
For images and graphs, laparoscopic and ultrasound images, pathology sections or slides, and undistinctive parts of the patient’s body, any marks or signs which reveal the patient’s name or private information, should be removed.

5. Acknowledgment, if any One or more statements should specify 1) contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair; 2) acknowledgments of technical help; and
6. The name, address, e-mail, Fax and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs, if that information is not included on the manuscript itself.
7. Word counts separately for abstract and for the text (excluding the references, tables figure legend, and abstract).
8. Number of figures and tables.
For further information visit the ICMJE recommendations.

[3] Cover letter: This letter should be uploaded online as a word file. The author should state that the manuscript has not been and will not be published or submitted elsewhere.

Article Body
  • Any manuscript must consider all article writing standards based on the AMA Manual of Style for writing articles.
  • Any lack of "English" academic writing may lead to "fast rejection" of manuscripts. Therefore, the journal strongly recommends authors consult their manuscripts with a native English speaker and edit them. [Especially required for Research Articles]
The rest of the article differs according to the article type, but generally, it includes the following headings:
  • Background & Objectives
  • Materials/Patients and Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • References
Drug Names

Generic drug names must be used in the title and throughout the whole manuscript, as well. The proprietary name should be included in parentheses, along with the name of the manufacturer, and city, upon the first mention in the text.


Formula

All authors can either put the formula in a full manuscript (*.docx format), and if there is a problem in the auto-generated pdf files, authors can upload formula as a Formula file type (or as another file type if you do not find
Formula file type in *.doc format).


Fonts

To distinguish different parts of the article, it is recommended to use the Times New Roman font, size 12 for the body and size 12 bold for headings and subheadings.


Units, Symbols, and Abbreviations

Internationally accepted units (International System of Units), symbols, and abbreviations must be used. Abbreviations should be used sparingly and must be introduced in parentheses upon the first mention. Abbreviations that have meaning only within the context of the specific manuscript should be avoided.


Background & Objectives

  • The background should summarize the purpose and the rationale for the study. It should neither review the subject extensively nor contain data or conclusions of the study. 
  • Objectives: Author(s) should declare the objectives/aims of the study in the submitted manuscript.

Methods

  • This should include the exact method or observation, or experiment. If an apparatus is used, its manufacturer's name and address should be given in parenthesis.
  • For established methods, reference is needed, but for the new methods, enough information is required.
  • The generic name, dose, and administration type are required for the used medications.
  • Statistical methods and general computer programs (software) must be mentioned.
  • The used Info system should be clearly noted.

Results

  • It must be presented in the form of text, tables, and illustrations.
  • The contents of the tables should not be repeated in the text. Instead, a reference to the table number may be given.
  • Long articles may need sub-headings within some sections (especially the Results and Discussion parts) to clarify their contents.

Discussion

  • Discussion should emphasize the present findings and the variations or similarities with other related studies.
  • The detailed data should not be repeated in the discussion again.
  • It concentrates on the new and important aspects of the study and the achieved conclusions.
  • It must be mentioned that the initially considered hypothesis is true or false, or no conclusions can be derived.
Conclusion

Presenting the last word on the issues and summarizing thoughts, and conveying the larger implications of the study, demonstrating the importance of ideas, and introducing possible new or expanded ways of thinking about the research problem. One well-developed paragraph is sufficient for a conclusion, although in some cases, a two-or-three paragraph conclusion may be required.

Article Types

Research Articles
Research Articles also are called “Original Articles”, which are considered as the common types of articles. The content of the paper must justify its length.
Abstract: A structured abstract is required, including these headings:

  • Background
  • Objectives
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Conclusions
Full Text: For the original research, traditional sections are required, including:
  • Background
  • Objectives
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Authorship Contributions
  • Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
  • References
In the full text of an original article, the maximum number of:
  • References are: 30
  • Figures are: 5
  • Tables are: 5

Max word count: 3500 (including tables and references)

Review Article
State-of-the-art reviews tend to address more current matters, including a review of the literature. This type of article summarizes the current state of understanding on a topic. A review article surveys and summarizes previously published studies rather than reporting new facts or analysis. 
Abstract: abstract of a review article contains the below headings:
  • Context
  • Evidence Acquisition
  • Results
  • Conclusions
Full Text: The full text of a review article contains the below sections:
  1. Context: It includes 1 or 2 sentences describing the clinical question or issue and its importance in clinical practice or public health.
  2. Evidence Acquisition: This section describes the data sources, including the research strategies, time of the study, and other sources of the used materials, such as subsequent reference searches of retrieved articles. It explains the methods used for quality assessment and the inclusion of identified articles.
  3. Results: This section addresses the major findings of the review of the clinical issue or topic in an evidence-based, objective, and balanced style, emphasizing the available highest-quality evidence.
  4. Conclusions: It clearly states the conclusions to answer the posed questions, if applicable, based on the conclusions of the available evidence, and it emphasizes how clinicians should apply the current knowledge.
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Authorship Contributions
  7. Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
  8. References
In a review article, the maximum number of: 
  • References are: 80
  • Figures are: 5
  • Tables are: 5
 

Max word count: 5000 (including tables and references)

Systematic Review or Meta-Analysis
Authors should report systematic reviews and meta-analyses in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) for systematic reviews and meta-analyses of interventional studies, and MOOSE (Meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology: a proposal for reporting. Meta-analysis Of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) for systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies.
Structure:
For Systematic Reviews, both abstract and text of the manuscript should be subdivided into the following sequential sections:
  1. Context: Provide a sentence or two explaining the importance of the review question.
  2. Objective: State the precise primary objective of the review. Indicate whether the review emphasizes factors such as cause, diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, or prevention and include information about the specific population, intervention, exposure, and tests or outcomes that are being reviewed.
  3. Data Sources: Succinctly summarize data sources, including years searched. Include in the search the most current information possible, ideally conducting the search several months before the date of manuscript submission. Potential sources include computerized databases and published indexes, registries, abstract booklets, conference proceedings, references identified from bibliographies of pertinent articles and books, experts or research institutions active in the field, and companies or manufacturers of tests or agents being reviewed. If a bibliographic database is used, state the exact indexing terms used for article retrieval, including any constraints (for example, English language or human subjects). If abstract space does not permit this level of detail, summarize sources in the abstract, including databases and years searched, and place the remainder of the information in the "Methods" section of the text.
  4. Study Selection: Describe inclusion and exclusion criteria used to select studies for detailed review from among studies identified as relevant to the topic. Under details of selection include particular populations, interventions, outcomes, or methodological designs. Specify the method used to apply these criteria (for example, blinded review, consensus, multiple reviewers). State the proportion of initially identified studies that met selection criteria.
  5. Data Extraction: Describe guidelines used for abstracting data and assessing data quality and validity (such as criteria for causal inference). State the method by which the guidelines were applied (e.g. independent extraction by multiple observers).
  6. Results: State the main results of the review, whether qualitative or quantitative and outline the methods used to obtain these results. For meta-analyses, state the major outcomes that were pooled and include odds ratios or effect sizes and, if possible, sensitivity analyses. Accompany numerical results by confidence intervals, if applicable, and exact levels of statistical significance. For evaluations of screening and diagnostic tests, include sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, receiver operating characteristic curves, and predictive values. For assessments of prognosis, summarize survival characteristics and related variables. State the major identified sources of variation between studies, including differences in treatment protocols, protocols, co-interventions, confounders, outcome measures, length of follow-up, and dropout rates.
  7. Conclusions: Clearly state the conclusions and their applications (clinical or otherwise), limiting interpretation to the domain of the review.
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Authorship Contributions
  10. Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
  11. Refeences
In a Systematic Reviews, the maximum number of: 
  • References are: 100
  • Figures are: 6
  • Tables are: 6

Max word count: 5000 (including tables and references)


Brief Report

  • Short manuscripts definitively documenting either experimental results or informative clinical observations will be considered for publication in this category.
  • The review process is equally rigorous as for other articles, and the acceptance rate is lower.
  • Another name of this type is "Brief communication."

Abstract must not exceed 200 words and should be a single paragraph with no subheadings. 

Full text: Brief reports may contain:

  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Authorship Contributions
  • Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
  • References
 In a brief report, the maximum number of:


Max word count: 1500 (including tables and references)


Case Report

A case report is a case study, case report, or other description of a case that should contain a structured abstract. In other meaning, clinical presentations may be followed by evaluative studies that eventually lead to a diagnosis (Reference).

Abstract of Case reports should comprise the below sections:

  • Introduction
  • Case Presentation
  • Conclusions

Full text of a case report includes:

  • Introduction
  • Case Presentation
  • Discussion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Authorship Contributions
  • Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
  • References

 In a case report, the maximum number of:


Max word count: 2000 (including tables and references)


Letter to the Editor

We welcome Letters to the Editor that directly refer to one of the contents published in the HMJ. Letters are not usually peer-reviewed (we rarely publish original research in this section), but the journal might invite replies from the authors of the original publication or pass on letters to these authors.

Please note that we have two types of Letters to the Editor in the HMJ, which are explained below:


Type 1 :

  • The letter linked to our published articles: These letters must be submitted within three months of the publication of the original item, and the word count must be in line. 

For example, a letter referring to an article published in the January issue must be submitted online no later than March 31st. Letters submitted after the allowed time will not be considered.

  • A maximum of three authors and 10 references are allowed.
  • Only one table or figure is allowed.

Type 1 of the Letter to the Editor is often accompanied by a Reply:

Editor-in-Chief should inform the corresponding author of the commented article and request him/her to submit a reply within a definite timeline.


Important Note:

Type 1 of the Letters to the Editor MUST have these criteria:

  1. The letter must refer to an original article published in the same journal.
  2. The letter must reach us within 3 months of the publication of the original item.


Type 2 :

  • Letters of general interest, unlinked to items published in the journal: These letters must be submitted within 5 weeks prior to publication of an issue.

In a letter, the maximum number of:

  • References are: 10
  • Figure is: 1
  • Table is: 1

Max word count: 1500 (including tables and references)


 Cover letter 

The cover letter should contain a statement that you will not resubmit your article to another journal until the reviewing process is completed. Also, please indicate whether the authors have published or submitted any related papers from the same study.

The Title Page of the article should be submitted as a separate file. This page includes:

1) the title of the article; 2) authors’ names; 3) name of the institution where the work was done; 4) running title (short form of the main title presented on the top of published pages); and 5) complete mailing address, telephone/fax numbers, and email address of the corresponding author. It is highly recommended that the authors provide the ORCID IDs of all the authors on the title page.


Keywords

  • A list of 3-6 keywords must be provided for indexing purposes. All keywords should be provided according to the MeSH terms at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html.
  • The preferred expression is indicated by the label "MeSH Heading" and not "Entry Term". The desired terms may then be copied from the MeSH Browser. Another way of finding appropriate headings is to search PubMed to find articles on similar topics and review the MeSH assigned to those articles.


Bibliography


EndNote Software

Writing and managing references using EndNote Software (http://www.endnote.com) is highly recommended. Preparing the references list using EndNote Software will be considered as an advantage to facilitate and accelerate the revision process of the manuscripts.

If you wish to take advantage of this, please use Endnote Software to prepare the references list and upload the Endnote library (the file with .enl extension) during submission.


Installing EndNote styles:

  • Download the EndNote style. Download
  • Double-click the style file. It should open in EndNote.
  • On the open style, go to “File Menu” and choose “Save As”.
  • Remove the word "copy" from the end of your style's name, and then click the "Save" button.
  • Click on “File Menu” and choose “Close Style”
  • Then Go back to your EndNote Library and go to "select another style".

You can use this instruction based on your operating system: Install Additional Output Styles

Export EndNote Library from Word File

  • Open the manuscript in Microsoft Office Word.
  • Click the EndNote tab.
  • Choose Export Traveling Library under the Export to EndNote tab.
  • Click OK, and the references in the manuscript will be automatically imported into the desired EndNote Library.

You can use this instruction based on your operating system: Export EndNote Traveling Library


Reference Validity:

Based on our policy in HMJ, at least 80% of the references must be retrieved from valid sources and have DOI. The number of valid references can be detected by Crossref Simple Text Query.


In-Text style

In the HMJ style, the numbers are the only indication required in the text, allocated in ascending sequence, and presented in the text in parenthesis. For example: “In most neonates, manifestations begin with respiratory distress, which is similar to other cardiopulmonary diseases (5, 7-9).


 Types of Reference

  1. Journal Articles
  2. Books
  3. WWW documents

Type 1) Journal Article


Structure:

  • Author's surname, followed by the initials or first name; for articles by up to and including six authors, list all authors separated by commas
  • The title of the article, followed by a full stop
  • The title of the journal abbreviated, followed by a full stop
  • Date of publication: The year, followed by a semi-colon.
  • The volume and issue number, the latter in parenthesis, followed by a colon
  • The page numbers, followed by a full stop
  • For the references credited to more than six authors, please list the first six authors followed by et al.
  • Optional addition of a database's unique identifier for the citation
  • Organization as the author
  • Article not in English 
  • Volume or issue with the supplement
  • Volume or issue with the part

How to find a journal abbreviation?

Search the journal title in one of the below databases. If you cannot find a particular journal title in the NLM database, check one of the following.

 Type 2) Books

Structure:

  1. Each author's surname followed by the initials (in the same order as they appear on the title page), a comma should separate each author's name.
  2. The title of the book
  3. The edition number of the book, if there has been more than one edition. Abbreviate the edition to the Ed.
  4. Place of publication or town of origin, followed by a colon
  5. The publisher's name, followed by a semi-colon
  6. The year of publication
  • Editor(s), compiler(s) as author

Gilstrap LC 3rd, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002.

  • Author(s) and editor(s)

Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent pregnancy. 2nd ed. Wieczorek RR, editor. White Plains (NY): March of Dimes Education Services; 2001.

  • Organization(s) as author

National Lawyers Guild AIDs Network (US); National Gay Rights Advocates (US). AIDS practice manual: a legal and educational guide. 2nd ed. San Francisco: The Network; 1988.

  • A 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.

  • The Conference proceedings

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

  • The Conference paper

Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182-91.

  • Dissertation

Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding: a telephone survey of Hispanic Americans [dissertation]. Mount Pleasant (MI): Central Michigan University; 2002.

  • Patent

Pagedas AC, inventor; Ancel Surgical R&D Inc., assignee. Flexible endoscopic grasping and cutting device and positioning tool assembly. United States patent US 20020103498. 2002 Aug 1.

Type 3) WWW document

Structure:

  • Article in an online format
  • Homepage/Web site
  • Blogs
  • Government publications
  • Map
  • Dictionary and similar references
  • In press or forthcoming materials

 Figures
 
Figures must be submitted as separate files in the submission process. Each figure needs a caption.

  • Authors should declare in the cover letter that all figures of their manuscripts are original; otherwise, the original source of figures should be mentioned.
  • A scanned graph from other resources will not be accepted to publish.
  • All figures should be in the form of encapsulated postscript (.eps), power point (.ppt), portable document format (.pdf), Photoshop (.psd), TIF (.tiff), PNG (png) or JPG (.jpg).
  • The raw data of the charts should be uploaded in Microsoft excel format (MS Office 2007 or newer)
  • Please scan all images in at least 300dpi. Most consumer scanners scan in sRGB by default. However, if you are using a high-end scanner, then Adobe RGB is recommended for optimum color depth. Colorspace should be in RGB.
  • Image quality specification for Line art (an image composed of lines and text which does not contain tonal or shaded areas) has a resolution of 900 dpi, halftone (a continuous tone photograph which contains no text) with 300 dpi and combination of both should have 500 dpi of resolution.
  •  We will NOT accept any images with a resolution below 300 dpi.
More information about file specifications can be seen at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/about/PMC_Filespec.html#Image_File_Requirements
 
Tables
  • Write tables at the end of the manuscript—every table on a separate page.
  • Each table should have borders with normal style without any colored row or column.
  • The style of the table should be simple.
  • Each cell must contain only one paragraph or one line.

How to draw a standard table:
A sample of a table:


Header 1

Header 2

Header 3

Header 4

First Column 1

Cell 1

Cell 2

Cell 3

First Column 2

Cell 4

Cell 5

Cell 6

First Column 3

Cell 7

Cell 8

Cell 9


 
Full Word File without Title Page
  • This file must contain all parts of the manuscript in the format of Microsoft Word.Docx including:
  • Upload figure(s) as separate files.
  • Please do NOT include a title page in this file because this file will be sent to reviewers, and authors must be blinded to our reviewers.

 Funding or Support
  • Detailed information regarding all financial and material support for the research and work.
  • It must not be limited to grant support, funding sources, and provision of equipment and supplies.
  • A link to the grant number provided by authors is always required.

Example:
Funding/Support: This study was supported in part by grant CAXX988 from the National XXXXX of Health and by a teaching and research scholarship from the XXXXX College of Physicians (Dr Fxxx).
Appendices
  • Appendices can be additional files (excel, csv, pdf, text, word, ...) that are requested from the journal side or uploaded by the author.
  • You can easily upload them in the mentioned box.

Protection of Patients’ Rights to Privacy
Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, sonograms, CT scans, etc., and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian, wherever applicable) gives written informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients’ names from figures unless they have obtained written informed consent from the patients. When informed consent has been obtained, it should be indicated in the article and copy of the consent should be attached with the covering letter.

Sending A Revised Manuscript
The revised version of the manuscript should be submitted online in a manner similar to that used for the submission of the manuscript for the first time. However, there is no need to submit the “First Page” or “Covering Letter” file while submitting a revised version. When submitting a revised manuscript, authors are requested to include, the ‘referees’ remarks along with point-to-point clarification at the beginning of the revised file itself. Also, they are expected to mark the changes as underlined or colored text in the article.
 
 
 

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