The Manuscript Guidelines are designed to help authors present their work in a clear, professional, and standardized format. These guidelines cover essential areas such as the structure and content of manuscripts, formatting and presentation standards, and the preparation of figures, tables, and supplementary materials. By following these instructions, authors can ensure their submissions are well-organized and meet the journal’s expectations, making the review and publication process more efficient and impactful.

Specific Manuscript Types

• Original Research Articles: Presenting new research data. The research articles should describe original primary research or new experimental or computational methods, tests, or procedures that can enhance decision-making in clinical medicine, public health, healthcare policy, medical education, or biomedical research. Must NOT exceed 5,000 words, not more than 50 references with a maximum of (5) tables and figures. ; and not more than 50 references

• Review Articles: Comprehensive overviews of existing research on a topic. Must NOT exceed 8,000 words. Not more than 100 references with a maximum of (5) tables and figures. ; and not more than 100 references.

• Case Studies (Case Series, Case Report): Detailed analyses of a particular case, event, or phenomenon. Must NOT exceed 5,000 words, not more than 50 references with a maximum of (5) tables and figures. ; and not more than 50 references

Title

• The title should be concise, informative, and relevant to the study

• Full names of all contributing authors

• Affiliations of all contributing authors (Full address - Department, Institution’s State, and Country)

• Corresponding author, name, email address, and phone number

• The first page of the manuscript file

Abstract

• A summary of the research following a structured format which includes Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, Discussions, and Conclusion

• It should NOT exceed 250 words

• It should NOT include citations or abbreviations

• Include unique study identifier / URL where applicable (registration of study)

Keywords

• List 5 (five) keywords that describe the main topic of the manuscript

Main body

• The introduction should provide a brief study context, including the research problem, background, and objectives.

• Materials & Methods should provide a detailed description of the materials, procedures, and analysis techniques used in the study. Ethical approval statement/s should be included when necessary.

• Results must be presented using tables and/or figures as needed.

• Discussions should include an interpretation of the results, their implications, and a comparison with previous studies.

• The conclusion should summarize the key findings and their significance. Future directions may also be included.

Acknowledgments

• Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section, along with a description of their contributions. Authors are responsible for confirming that everyone named in the acknowledgments has agreed to be included.

• The author/s especially principal/corresponding author should identify the deserving authors based on the 4 criterias listed in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guideline where the author of a manuscript is defined as someone who has provided (1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND (2) drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND (3) final approval of the version to be published; AND (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

References

• Cite only published articles; accepted unpublished articles; online articles; books; book chapters; deposited articles; websites.

• Ensure all references are accurate and complete.

• Original article & Case studies with not more than 50 references.

• Review articles with not more than 100 references.

• Vancouver Manual of Styles as shown below:

Conflicts of Interest

• Declare any potential conflicts of interest related to the research or publication. If there are none then state “Authors have no conflict of interest to declare”

Data Availability (if applicable)

• Mention whether the data supporting the findings is available and how it can be accessed

Funding

• The funding statement should include the following:

  • Specific grant numbers

  • Full names of commercial companies that funded the study or authors

  • Also state whether any sponsors or funders (other than the named authors) played any role in the study design, data collection, and analysis, decision to publish, preparation of the manuscript.

  • If they had no role in the research, include this sentence: “The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.”

• If the study was unfunded, include this sentence as the Financial Disclosure statement: “The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.”

Authors contribution

• Include a brief statement specifying the contribution of each author (e.g., research design, data analysis, critical manuscript writing and reviewing).

• Provide at minimum one significant contribution for each author according to ICMJE guideline.

Language

• The manuscript should be written in British (United Kingdom) English. To enable reviewers to evaluate the work outlined in the manuscript properly, please ensure that the English language used is clear and comprehensible.

Font

• The title on the title page should be in Arial, 16-point, bold, centre-aligned, and in the Title Case. All other text (including the abstract, body of the manuscript, references, etc.) should be in Arial, 12-point, justified, with no indentation for new paragraphs.

Line Spacing

• The line spacing in the entire manuscript should be double-spaced (except for tables/illustrations/figures/images)

Line numbering

• Lines in the manuscript should be numbered continuously from the start (title page) to the end.
• Word count

Page orientation

• The entire manuscript should be in the portrait orientation.

Column layout

• The manuscript should be in a single column throughout.

Margins

• The document should have 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins on all sides.

Page Numbers

• All pages should be numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript. Page numbers should appear by themselves and should not be entered manually.

Sections and Headings

• Use clear section headings and subheadings to organise the manuscript

Define abbreviations based on the first appearance of the text.

Placement

• Embed figures and tables at appropriate points within the text where they are first mentioned. Additionally, upload all figures and tables as separate files.

Numbering

• Number tables and figures consecutively throughout the manuscript (e.g., Table 1, Figure 1).

Orientation and Alignment

• Place tables and figures in portrait orientation and centre-aligned. Large tables or figures may be presented on a separate page in landscape orientation.

Quantity

• Limit the combined total of figures, tables, images, and illustrations to five (5). Additional items should be included as supplementary material.

Titles and Captions

• Tables

  • Place the table number and title above the table, justified-aligned and single-spaced.

• Figures

  • Place the figure number and caption below the figure, justified-aligned and single-spaced.

• Use Arial, size 12-point, for titles and captions.

• Provide each figure/table with a descriptive caption explaining its content.

Content Formatting

• Tables

  • Use bold for table headers, avoid vertical lines, and use lines only for headers and table bottom.

• Font

  • Set table content in Arial, size 12-point, single-spaced, and align text to the left or justified as needed.

• Footnotes

  • Use superscript lowercase letters (e.g., a, b) for footnotes, assigning letters from left to right, top to bottom. Set footnote font in Arial, size 10-point, single-spaced.

• Abbreviations

  • List the expanded abbreviations below the footnotes in alphabetical order, using Arial, size 10-point, single-spaced. Redefine abbreviations if they appear in tables to ensure the table can stand alone.

File Formats and Quality

• Images

  • Acceptable formats are .jpeg, .tiff, and .eps, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi for print quality.

• Tables

  • Submit tables in .doc or .xls format.

Reproduction from External Sources

• Cite the source of any reproduced tables, figures, or images from other publications, and obtain permission for any copyrighted material not owned by you.

For more details on preparing figures and tables, refer to the provided template, which includes sample layouts.

Purpose of Supplementary Materials

• Supplementary materials provide additional data, detailed methodologies, extensive tables, figures, or other content that supports and enhances the understanding of the main article but is not crucial to its core findings.

Naming Convention

• Name files with clear, descriptive labels, e.g., Supplementary_Table1.xls or Supplementary_Figure1.tiff.

Formatting Requirements

• Text

  • Supplementary text should be concise and follow the same formatting style as the main manuscript. Use headings if there are multiple sections (e.g., Methods, Additional Analysis).

• Figures, Tables, and Dataset:

  • This should follow the same formatting style as the tables/figures in the main manuscript. Provide titles and captions for each figure or table. Use labels such as “Supplementary Figure 1” or “Supplementary Table 2.”

  • Figures

    • Acceptable formats are .jpeg, .tiff, and .eps, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi for print quality

  • Tables

    • Submit tables in .doc or .xls format. For the dataset, submit it in CSV or .xlsx.

Citation and Referencing in the Main Text

• In-text References

  • Cite supplementary materials in the main text (Supplementary Figure 1)”.

• Supplementary Reference List

  • Any references cited within the supplementary materials should be listed in a separate reference list at the end of the supplementary document. Follow the format of reference as the main manuscript.

Submission Process

• Upload

  • Submit all supplementary materials as clearly labelled files through the manuscript submission system.

• Review Process

  • Supplementary materials will undergo peer review along with the main manuscript.

• Post-Acceptance

  • Approved supplementary materials will be linked to the final article online. Reviewers must address any major changes requested before final approval.

Best Practices for Supplementary Data

• Avoid redundancy with the main article; supplementary materials should only include data or details that do not fit within the main text.

• If your supplementary material involves extensive data analysis or large datasets, consider submitting raw data to a public repository and linking it to the supplementary document.

• Supplementary files should be self-explanatory, as they may be accessed independently from the main text by readers.

For more details on preparing supplementary files, refer to the provided template, which includes sample layouts.