Submission Preparation Checklist
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.- The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
- The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
- Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
- The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
- If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.
- If submitting a Case Report or Clinical Image, the properly accomplished Affidavit of Consent to Publish is available for uploading as a supplementary file (in Step 4 of the five-step submission process).
- If submitting a Research Report, the Ethics Review Committee/Institutional Review Committee Certificate of Approval is available for uploading as a supplementary file (in Step 4 of the five-step submission.
Research
Authors should follow the appropriate EQUATOR Network checklist for reporting research results. Listed below are the common study types and their corresponding checklists. Please visit the EQUATOR Network website for a complete list of the reporting guidelines and checklists.
Study types | Checklists and diagrams |
---|---|
Randomized controlled trials | CONSORT Checklist CONSORT Flow Diagram |
Observational studies (cohort, case-control, cross-sectional) | STROBE Checklist |
Meta-analysis and systematic reviews | PRISMA Checklist PRISMA Flow Diagram |
Diagnostic accuracy studies | STARD Checklist STARD Flow Diagram |
Prediction model for individual prognosis or diagnosis | TRIPOD |
Qualitative studies | COREQ |
 Economic evaluation | CHEERS |
Research report submissions should contain the following sections:
- Title
- Authors and affiliations
- Abstract: up to 250 words; should (generally) include, as applicable, the sub-headings – Background, Objectives, Design, Setting, Participants, Interventions (if any), Main Outcome Measures, Main Results, and Conclusion; for sub-headings of abstracts of specific study types, please refer to the reporting checklists
- Keywords: 2 to 5 words or phrases
- Introduction
- Methods
- Results
- Discussion
- References
- Acknowledgements
Please use 5000 words or less for the main text of the report (excluding title, abstract, tables, figures, references, and acknowledgements).
The conduct of research involving humans must have been approved or favorably endorsed by an Institutional Review Board or Ethics Review Committee. Please submit a copy of the Certificate of Approval or Certificate of Favorable Endorsement to conduct the research along with the research report.
Case report
Authors should follow the CARE Checklist in preparing the manuscript for case report.
Case report submissions should contain the following sections:
- Title
- Authors and affiliations
- Abstract: up to 250 words (refer to the CARE Checklist for specific contents)
- Keywords: 2 to 5 words or phrases
- Introduction
- Clinical features
- Diagnostic approaches
- Therapeutic approaches
- Outcomes
- Discussion
- References
- Acknowledgements
Please use 2000 words or less for the main text of the report (excluding title, abstract, tables, figures, references, and acknowledgements).
Every attempt should be made in order to obtain an affidavit of consent to publish the article or photos that describe a patient. The affidavit should be duly executed by the patient or by the patient's legally acceptable representative. You may use the SPMC template provided by the Research Office or the Legal Office for this purpose. Please submit a copy of the affidavit along with the case report and/or photos of the patient.
Clinical images
Images of unreported, unexpected or unusual physical examination, intra-operative, histopathologic, radiographic or other medical imaging findings may be submitted for publication. Up to four photos can be used to describe a condition.
Clinical images submissions should contain the following sections:
- Title: should state the final diagnosis
- Authors and affiliations
- Brief clinical description, which should include:
- Patient’s age and sex
- Chief complaint, brief history, physical examination findings
- Relevant diagnostics
- Final diagnosis
- Relevant therapeutics
- Outcomes
- Description of the individual photos
Please use 300 words or less for the brief clinical description.
Every attempt should be made in order to obtain an affidavit of consent to publish the article or photos that describe a patient. The affidavit should be duly executed by the patient or by the patient's legally acceptable representative. You may use the SPMC template provided by the Research Office or the Legal Office for this purpose. Please submit a copy of the affidavit along with the photos and brief clinical description of the patient.
Book review
Reviews of books relevant in health care services and the health professions may be submitted for publication. Book review submissions should contain the following
- Book details: title and author/s or editor/s of the book, ISBN
- Author of the book review and affiliation
- General contents and scope of the book
- Significance of the book to its readers
- (Optional) comparison of the book with other books within the same area or topic
- References
Please use 2000 words or less for the main text of the report (excluding title and references).
Copyright Notice
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work for non-commercial purposes with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional, non-commercial contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors grant the journal permission to rewrite, edit, modify, store and/or publish the submission in any medium or format a version or abstract forming part thereof, all associated supplemental materials, and subsequent errata, if necessary, in a publicly available publication or database.
- Authors warrant that the submission is original with the authors and does not infringe or transfer any copyright or violate any other right of any third parties.
Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.