Submission Guidelines

Updated June 2020

Submissions to Journal of Research in Clinical Medicine (JRCM) are accepted through our online submission system. To streamline the process, the online submission system is designed to perform a series of automatic controls, promptly informing the user of any technical insufficiencies, and directing to the relevant instructions.

To start submission, please create an account and log in. The submitting author will take responsibility on behalf of all co-authors as the corresponding author of the submission, and is required to enter full details including a working e-mail address, phone number and address, in their online profile. All correspondence, including, but not limited to, the results of initial evaluation, Editor’s decision, and request for revisions or proofreading will be sent to the e-mail address of the corresponding author, which will be published with the article.

The submission or any subsequent revision is evaluated at the editorial office, and if corrections are necessary, it may be temporarily unsubmitted and returned to the authors, who are responsible for formatting their submission and providing the required information. Please see our editorial workflow for more information. For further help regarding submission, you may contact the editorial office.

We use iThenticate software in the processing of the submissions.

1. The conditions of submission

Open access license, copyright, and charges

Journal of Research in Clinical Medicine (JRCM) is an Open Access journal. As such there are no submission fees or article processing charges for authors submitting their paper to the Journal of Analytical Research in clinical medicine, the open access publication of which is subsidized by Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Department of Vice Chancellor for Research & Technology. Please see our publishers' open access and copyright policy for more information.

Upon submission, the authors are required to sign a license form for open access publication of their work in the journal, granting the right to TUOMS Publishing Group to identify itself as the original publisher of the article. The authors agree to the publication of their article under the Creative Common license 4.0 (CC-BY) while retaining the copyright to their work. Please see our open access and copyright policy and license agreement for more information.

Cover letter

A cover letter is required for every submission. It must be uploaded in a separate file. The authors will need to confirm the following conditions in the submission cover letter:

• That the submission is original, submitted solely to this journal, and not currently under consideration for publication or already published elsewhere, unless explained in the submission cover letter. See our editorial policies on duplicate publication.
• That no any sentence is copied from other sources. See our editorial policies on plagiarism and text recycling.
• That the submitting author takes responsibility for the submission on behalf of all authors as the corresponding author.
• That all authors have reviewed, approved, and consented to the submission, and they are accountable for all aspects of its accuracy and integrity in accordance with ICMJE criteria.

The submission cover letter should also include the following information, as well as any additional information requested in the instructions for the specific article type that the authors are submitting:

• An explanation of why the submitted work should be published in the journal (the novelty of the work).
• An explanation of any issues relating to journal policies.
• A declaration of any potential competing interests.
• The name of particular special issue that the submission should be published in.

The authors may also suggest potential peer reviewers for their submission by providing name, institutional email addresses, and an ORCID or Scopus ID. Please see our editorial policies for more information on suggesting peer reviewers. Please also see our editorial policies regarding the use of unique identifiers.

The authors may also provide the details of anyone who they would prefer not to review their work.

Intentionally providing falsifying information, such as false names or email addresses, will result in rejection of the submission and may lead to further investigation in line with our misconduct policy.

2. Preparing the submission

Preparing the manuscript

For general instructions, please see preparing the manuscript. JRCM  publishes these article types:

• Research article: Original work resulting from research, constituting complete studies that contain all relevant information. Prepare the manuscript as follows: A Title, a Structured Abstract, Key words, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables, Legend for figures, List of additional files. It must be up to 3500 words with 30 references.
  
• Short communication: Original work, but less substantial than the regular research article, presenting preliminary results, or results of immediate relevance. Prepare the manuscript as follows: A Title, a Structured Abstract, Key words, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables, Legend for figures, List of additional files.
• Review: Narrative reviews on clinically relevant topics. A full-length Review  must be up to 8000 words, including tables, figures, and references. Prepare the manuscript as follows: A Title, an Unstructured Abstract, Key words, Introduction, Subheadings in the manuscript as necessary, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables, Legend for figures, List of additional files.
• Case report: Systematic reports of interesting or rare cases of importance for the practice of professionals. Prepare the manuscript as follows: A Title, an Unstructured Abstract, Key words, Introduction, Case Report, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables, Legend for figures, List of additional files.
• Letter: Comments or concerns on specific subjects; overall or pertaining to items published in the journal. Also, new or additional findings of original nature. Prepare the letter as follows: A Title, Text, References.
• Editorial: The Journal’s editors write the editorial.
• Short communication: Communications are preliminary reports . It must be up to 2000 words, including tables, figures, and references.
• Survey papers - Extensive reviews of established or emerging research topics or application areas (up to 2000 words).
  

Title

A concise descriptive title should be chosen for the submission. Do not capitalize all words; only the first word and proper nouns should be capitalized. Include the type of the study (meta-analysis, systematic review, cohort, case report, etc.) in the title with a colon  (:).

Structured Abstract (Research article and Short communication)

The structured abstract (maximum 250 words) is to contain the following major subheadings: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. The Background subheading reflects the background as well as the purpose of the study, that is, the hypothesis being tested. The Methods should include the setting for the study, the subjects (number and type), the treatment or intervention, and the type of statistical analysis. The Results include the outcome of the study and statistical significance if appropriate. The Conclusion states the significance of the results. Clinical trials should include the trial registration number on the last line of the abstract.

The unstructured abstract (maximum 150 words) does not contain subheadings.

Unstructured Abstract (Review and Case report)

The unstructured abstract (maximum 150 words) does not contain subheadings.

• Letter and editorials don’t need abstract.

Key words

3 to 10 key words for each submission should be selected from the list of MESH words. List key words in alphabetic order, all lower case, except where necessary.

Introduction

The introduction contains a concise review of the subject area and the rationale for the study. More detailed comparisons to previous work and conclusions of the study appear in the Discussion section.

Methods

The methods section should describe in adequate detail the experimental subjects, their important characteristics, and the methods, apparatus, and procedures used so that other researchers can reproduce the experiment.

When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

The methods section must indicate that the protocol was reviewed by the appropriate institutional review body and that each subject in the project signed a detailed informed consent form.

Results

Results should be presented in a logical sequence with reference to tables, figures, and illustrations as appropriate.

Discussion

New and possible findings of the study should be emphasized, as well as any conclusions that can be drawn. The discussion should compare the present data to previous findings. Limitations of the experimental methods should be indicated, as should implications for future research. New hypotheses and clinical recommendations are appropriate and should be clearly identified. Recommendations, particularly clinical ones, may be included when appropriate.

Preparing references, equations, tables, figures, and additional files

To correctly prepare the references, equations, tables, figures, or additional files for a submission, please follow these guidelines:

• Cite references in the text in the Vancouver style.

• Reference numbers should not be cited in parentheses or brackets.Two references are cited with a comma and no space. Three or more consecutive references are cited in a range with dashes.

• Two references are cited with a comma and no space. Three or more consecutive references are cited in a range with dashes.
• If referring to the author of a previous work in text, write the surname followed by the superscripted citation number. For a citation with two authors, list surnames of both using “&” and for those with three or more authors, write the first author’s surname followed by “et al”.
• References in tables and figures should be in numerical order according to where the item is first cited in the text.
• Only one publication can be listed for each number.
• Remove EndNote codes before saving your submission file.
• For the author names in the references, list the surnames and initials of all authors if there are 6 or fewer; otherwise list the first 6 and add ‘, et al.’
• Use one space only between words up to the year and then no spaces.
• The journal title should be abbreviated according to the Index Medicus/MEDLINE journal abbreviations.
• Add Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the reference at the end whenever available.

• For instructions on formatting the citations of the submission, please see preparing references.
• Equations should be typed in MathType. Graphical objects should not be used as formulas. Make sure that your equations are editable.For correct formatting of formulas, please see preparing formulas or equations.
• Smaller tables that are considered integral to the manuscript can be pasted at the end of the manuscript file in A4 portrait or landscape format. Tables must be cited within the main text in numerical order. Tables should be cell-based and created in Microsoft Word with the Tables tool with real rows and columns and not aligned with tabs, returns, or spaces. Make sure the table direction is set “left-to-right.” Vertical orientation, and upright on the page. A concise title should be provided and inserted before each table. All columns should carry concise headings describing the data therein. Tables should be plain with no colors, shading, or graphics. Tables should not contain inserted text boxes, tables within tables, or cells within cells. Multi-part tables with varying numbers of columns or multiple footnotes should be organized as separate tables.Commas should not be used to indicate numerical values. Symbols and abbreviations should be defined immediately below the table. If a table or any data therein have been previously published, the footnote to the table must give full credit to the original source. Larger datasets or tables too wide for A4 or Letter landscape page can be uploaded as additional files. Tabular data provided as additional files can be uploaded as an Excel spreadsheet (XLS) or comma separated values (CSV). Tables may also be uploaded separately. Please see preparing tables for more instructions.
• Figures must be cited within the main text in numerical order. Figures must be submitted as separate files, and NOT embedded in the main manuscript file. A legend for each figure should be provided during submission. Multi-panel figures (with labeled parts as a, b, c, d, etc.) must be combined and upload. Lettering in figures (for example, labeling of axes) should be in lower-case type, with the first letter capitalized and no full stop. Histograms should be prepared in a simple, two-dimensional format, with no background grid. Make sure that any specific patient/hospital details are removed or blacked out (for example, X-rays, MRI scans, etc.). If photographs of patients are used, they should not be identifiable. Avoid using the touch-up tools, such as cloning and healing tools in Photoshop, or any feature that deliberately obscures manipulations. In order to publish all figures as open access, authors must have permission from the rights holder if they wish to include images that have been published elsewhere in non-open-access journals. Graphics downloaded from Web pages should not be used unless the author has a right to re-publish those as open access. The original source and the permission should be indicated in the figure legend, and a citation should be included in the reference list. Please see preparing figures for more instructions. ed as one file.
• Datasets, large tables, videos, or other information must be submitted separately as additional files, which will be published along with the article. Additional files must be cited within the main text in numerical order. Please see preparing additional files for more instructions.
• File formats and quality resolutions should be at least 300 dpi for color figures, 600 dpi for greyscales, and 1200 dpi for line arts. EPS, PDF, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, TIFF, JPEG.

Highlights
For original articles, study highlights are optional yet highly encouraged for this journal, as they increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any).

3. Providing the required information

The authors should have the required information below ready upon submission. The manuscript should not include this information to ensure a blind peer-review. Please see our editorial policies for more information regarding peer review policy. The supporting information will be reviewed by the editor.

Author information and acknowledgments

Full names and email addresses of all authors, as well as their affiliations and institutional addresses are requested during submission. Providing the unique identifier (ORCID or Scopus ID) of each co-authors required. Please see our editorial policies on authorship and unique identifiers for more information. If a collaboration group should be listed as an author, please list the group name as an author.

In an “Authors’ contribution” section, the authors are required to explain the contribution of each co-author in the conception or design of the work; the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.

In an “Acknowledgments” section, the authors are required to acknowledge anyone who contributed to the submitted work who does not meet the criteria for authorship. It is obligatory to state any support with translating or editing by third parties such as professional commercial writing/editing services. The authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgments section.

Please see our editorial policies for further explanation of authorship criteria and acknowledgments.

Funding and Competing interest

The authors are required to declare all sources of funding for the research reported. The role of the funding body in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript should be declared.

The authors are required to declare all financial and non-financial competing interests with regards to the publication of their work during submission. Please see our editorial policies for more information on competing interests. If any of the authors are unsure whether they have a competing interest, they should contact the editorial office.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Authors of submissions reporting studies involving human participants, human data, or human tissues are required to provide the following information:

• A statement on ethics approval and consent (even where the need for approval was waived).
• The name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the committee’s reference number if appropriate.

Submissions reporting studies involving animals must include a statement on ethics approval.

Please see our editorial policies for more information.

If the submission does not report on or involve the use of any animals or human data or tissues, please state “Not applicable” in this section.

Consent to publish

If the submission contains any individual person’s data in any form, consent to publish must be obtained from that person, or in the case of children, their parent or legal guardian. All presentations of case reports must have consent to publish. The authors may use their institutional consent form. The form is not to be sent on submission, but we may request to see a copy at any stage (including after publication). Please see our editorial policies for more information.

If the submission does not contain any individual person’s data, please state “Not applicable” in this section.

4. Finalizing submission

Before completing the process, the submitting author is required to review the submission proof (PDF) which will be automatically generated. The submission proof may be shared with co-authors for a final check and approval. The submitting author may go back and correct any parts as necessary, review the submission proof again, and then submit the work using the “Submit” button.

5. Revising the submission

Any subsequent revisions to the submission upon request from the editor will have to follow the same guidelines presented here.

Upon submitting a revised submission, the authors will be guided to provide a re-submission letter, attaching the revision details, based on the comments provided by the editor. The attached revision details should not include author information to ensure blind peer review.