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Instructions for Authors

Contents

Original contributions are welcomed by AIMJ from any country, but the prose used in manuscripts must conform to acceptable English usage.

Initial evaluation

All submitted manuscripts will be checked by the Editorial Office to determine whether they are properly prepared and whether they follow the ethical policies of the journal. All submitted manuscripts are screened for potential plagiarism via iThenticate software. Manuscripts that do not fit the journal's ethics policy or do not meet the standards of the journal will be rejected before peer review. Incomplete manuscripts not prepared in the advised style will be sent back to authors without scientific review. After these checks, the Editorial Office will consult the journal’s Editor-in-Chief to determine whether the manuscript fits the scope of the journal and whether it is scientifically sound. Manuscripts with insufficient priority for publication will be rejected promptly. Please write your text in good English (American usage is accepted). The Editor reserves the right to reject a manuscript on the grounds of insufficient language quality. Reject decisions at this stage will be verified by the Editor-in-Chief.

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Plagiarism Status / Check similarity

All submissions from all over the countries should be reviewed officially for plagiarism before submission.

In case your article did not pass the first plagiarism (similarity check), It will be turned back to authors and an official Plagiarism clearance certificate should be submitted at time of online re-submission. Editorial office will check again plagiarism (similarity check) for the re-submission and if plagiarism is still unaccepted immediate rejection will be sent to Authors.

Editorial office considers originality, academic integrity, and novelty of each article, so Editors will check again the Plagiarism clearance, regarding every single paragraph, including cited quotes, in-text citations and commonly used phrases in similarity (individual cannot change or rephrase e.g., names of liver function tests, thyroid function tests, names of diseases, or methodology…etc.) before assignment to reviewers. The unavoidable mentioned similarity is Ok, but plagiarism is not allowed. Editors have the total wright for immediate article rejection if plagiarism clearance is found in any percent.

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AIMJ is an Open Access journal. Users have the right to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles under the following conditions: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-SA 4.0). If accepted, this journal is open access, making your article freely available to all at any time without limitations.

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Editorial policy

The text must be clear, logical, and concise. In assessing a manuscript for publication, the Editor will also consider its originality, educational value, and validity. Recommendations regarding major reforming or corrections may be offered to help authors re-write their submission in a way that is acceptable to the journal.

Contributions are accepted on the understanding that they have not been submitted simultaneously to another Journal and have not been published elsewhere. Dual publication or redundant publication is unethical. Redundant publication occurs when two or more papers, without full cross-reference, share the same hypothesis, data, discussion points, or conclusions.

All contributions will be assessed by the editors for suitability for the journal. Suitable Papers are then sent to two expert reviewers to assess independently the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor's decision is final regarding the acceptance or rejection of articles.

As peer review process is double-blind peer review, please prepare your manuscript in a way that conceals the identities of all the authors and tick the appropriate care during online submission.

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Double-blind review

For double-blind review please do the following:

  • Do not include names or affiliations anywhere in the manuscript or Supplementary Information.
  • When referring to your own work in the manuscript, use neutral terminology. Do not put phrase refers to your identity.
  • Remove any author names from the figures.
  • Include acknowledgments, author information/contributions, and author name order in the cover letter, not in the manuscript.
  • Note that editors do not ensure that the paper is properly anonymized; that is the authors' responsibility.
  • Authors can greatly assist the process of submission of correctly formatted papers in accordance with the following guidelines.

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Online submission

All material should be submitted through the online submission and review system. Separate file should be prepared for each of the following:

  1. Title page
  2. Manuscript main file (without Authors names)
  3. Figure
  4. Tables
  5. Research highlights
  6. Graphical Abstract
  7. Supplementary files
  8. Cover letter

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Title page includes

Type of manuscript original article/ metanalysis, etc.

  • Title: of the article
  • Short title: running not more than 5 words.
  • Initials and name of each author
  • The name, address, telephone, fax and e-mail details of the corresponding author.
  • Authors (ORCID)
  • Affiliations: Name and address of the department or institution to which the work should be attributed
  • Details of any meeting at which the work was presented, wholly or in part.
  • Corresponding author:
  • E-mail of corresponding Author:
  • Address:
  • Mobile No.:
  • No. of pages: No. of Words:
  • No. of figures: No. of tables:
  • Statements declaring that: Conflict of interest and Authors’ contribution.

Manuscript main file (without Authors names) in the following order

  1. Title
  2. Abstract
  3. Main text
  4. Conflict of interest disclosure statement
  5. Authorship (Authors’ Contribution)
  6. Acknowledgment
  7. References
  8. Figure’s legends
  9. Tables’ descriptions

All above components should be prepared in a single file.

Figures

Illustrations (Figures, diagrams) Each one should be submitted in a separate file.

Tables

Each one should be submitted in a separate file.

Research highlights

Short 4 phrases describing the article findings for non-specialized reader.

Graphical Abstract

submitted in a separate file if required. It is a single, concise, pictorial, and visual summary of the main findings of the article. This could either be the concluding figure from the article or a figure that is specially designed for the purpose, which captures the content of the article for readers at a single glance.

Supplementary files when indicated is submitted in a separate file

For example, Data files / Documents files / Digital media- video…. Or any additional files author finds it necessary or required by Editorial office.

Cover letter

Submitted in a separate file. Manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter stating that confirms the following:

"Guide for Authors" has been read, i.e., indicating compliance with those instructions and acceptance of the conditions posed.

Authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of the paper, and bear responsibility for it; that all who have been acknowledged as contributors or as providers of personal communications have agreed to their inclusion.

The material is original; and that it has been neither published elsewhere nor submitted for publication simultaneously.

Conflict of interest statement

At the end of the text, under the subheading 'Conflict of interest statement', all authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work.

Authorship

All authors should have made substantial contributions to the article and should be mentioned in brief. Please provide each author's contribution e.g. The conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content or final approval of the version to be submitted.

Acknowledgments

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship as defined above should be listed in an acknowledgements section. e.g., person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided general support.

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Main article types

  • Original research articles should generally be no more than 3000 words in length, with 50 references and 10 figures/illustrated images/ tables. Please note that composite figures count as individual items.
  • Review papers and Meta-analysis should be no more than 4000 words, with 100 references and 16 figures/illustrated imaged/tables. Please note that composite figures count as individual items.
    • Other article types:
  • Case Reports and Series: Limited acceptance, Only AIMJ will accept the unique findings in diagnosis and management. Article should be no more than 800 words in length with 10 references and 4 tables/figures.
  • Ideas and Innovations, Editorial letter and Opinions should be no more than 500 words in length, with five references and two tables/figures. If the letter is in response to a published article, then the article should be included in the reference list.

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Standardized reporting guidelines

AIMJ is committed to standardize reporting of clinical trials, meta-analyses, and other studies as follows:

  • Systematic Review

    • A summary of the clinical literature. A systematic review is a critical assessment and evaluation of all research studies that address a particular clinical issue. The researchers use an organized method of locating, assembling, and evaluating a body of literature on a particular topic using a set of specific criteria. A systematic review typically includes a description of the findings of the collection of research studies. The systematic review may also include a quantitative pooling of data called a meta-analysis.

  • Meta-Analysis

    • A way of combining data from many different research studies. A meta-analysis is a statistical process that combines the findings from individual studies.

  • Randomized Controlled Trial

    • A controlled clinical trial that randomly (by chance) assigns participants to two or more groups. There are various methods to randomize study participants to their groups.

  • Cohort Study (Prospective Observational Study)

    • A clinical research study in which people who presently have a certain condition or receive a particular treatment are followed over time and compared with another group of people who are not affected by the condition.

  • Case-control Study

    • Case-control studies begin with the outcomes and do not follow people over time. Researchers choose people with a particular result (the cases) and interview the groups or check their records to ascertain what different experiences they had. They compare the odds of having an experience with the outcome to the odds of having an experience without the outcome.

  • Cross-sectional study

    • The observation of a defined population at a single point in time or time interval. Exposure and outcome are determined simultaneously.

  • Case Series

    • A report on a series of patients with an outcome of interest. No control group is involved.

  • Case Reports 1-3 Cases study
  • Ideas and Innovations, Editorial letter, and Opinions

    • Personal observations and comments provided by experts in the field regarding the scientific topics.

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Preparation of manuscripts

Failure to submit papers in accordance with these instructions will result in the return of the manuscript for correction before it is sent out for review. All copy must be typed double spaced, including text, bibliographies, figure legends and tables. Use a standard, easy-to-read word processor font such as Times New Roman or Arial. All pages should be numbered in the bottom right corner or bottom center.

Papers should be set out as follows: title, abstract, keywords, text, Conflict of interest disclosure statement, Authorship statement, acknowledgements, references, figure legends, table legends.

Abstract and keywords

The article abstract should consist of no more than 250 words. The journal requires structured abstracts, briefly describe the background, purposes or aims of the study, patient, and methods the subjects studied and the methods used, results; the main findings (including specific data and statistical analysis) and the conclusions.

Keywords: 5 in maximum describing the article findings and each word should be separated by semicolon (;)

Case Reports and Series / Ideas and Innovations, Editorial letter, and Opinions, put summary, in not more than 50 words without structured abstract.

Text

Headings should be appropriate to the nature of the paper. Research papers should usually be split into sections under the headings: Introduction, Materials/Patients and Methods, Results Discussion and Conclusion. Subcategories of heading may be used in methods section when indicated, e.g., technical steps, exclusion criteria.

Drug/device names: Use generic names of drugs, suture materials and instruments whenever possible. Give the trade name in brackets after the generic or approved name, followed by manufacturer, city, state and country.

Statistical Analysis: Numerical data should be analyzed by appropriate statistical methods. When evaluating a manuscript, the Editor and statistical referees will consider the design of the study, the presentation of the data, the analysis of the data and the interpretation of the results. The use of standard deviation and standard error should be clearly distinguished. The statistical test(s) used should be stated clearly in the 'Methods' section of the paper. Statistical significance should not be confused with clinical significance. In particular, 'negative' findings should be interpreted using confidence intervals. Authors should beware of placing undue emphasis on secondary analyses, especially when they are suggested by an inspection of the data.

Figures

Figures should be cited in the text in an appropriate position and submitted online as separate files. The minimum resolution for high quality reproduction is 300 dpi.

Permission to reproduce illustrations from other sources should always be obtained before submission, and details included with the legend. The journal is published in full color (in print and online), so color photographs should be submitted wherever possible. Photographs must be in sharp focus with good contrast and should not be altered or retouched in any way. 'Before' and 'after' photographs of patients should be standardized in terms of size, position, and lighting. Provide scale bars on photomicrographs rather than stating the magnification in the legend. Legends are required for figures and should be included as part of the manuscript. All figures should be numbered in a single sequence. If the figure is composite author should indicate each image portion by Arial letter e.g., A.B.C... and write in legends as the following: Figure 1(a) Pre-operative…. (b) Postoperative….

Please note that composite figures count as individual items:
Patient confidentiality: where illustrations include individuals of whatever age who are recognizable or whose identity may be deduced from the context, written consent must be obtained for publication. All identifying features not considered relevant to the text should be obscured.

Tables

Tables should be cited in the text in an appropriate position. Tables should be double-spaced Microsoft word and contain only horizontal rules. Do not submit tables as photographs. A short descriptive title should appear above each table and any footnotes, suitably identified, below. Care must be taken to ensure that all units are included.

Supplementary data including Digital multimedia and video (DMM):
In not more than 3 minutes length for each DMM and a maximum 3, the journal accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files allow the author to submit supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more, which will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article. To ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data is provided in simple video formats. DMM should be original of authors' own work.

References

Please ensure that you include all relevant references to previous articles in the AIMJ. The accuracy of references is the responsibility of the authors. Limit citations to those that are essential to the study. It is not necessary or appropriate to quote each historical reference unless there is a specific point to be made.

References should be cited in the text in numerical order, not alphabetically, and be indicated in the text by superscript numbers, e.g., 1, 2 the reference list should be typed double-spaced and in numerical order. If there are more than 5 authors list only the first five followed by 'et al.' Journal titles should be abbreviated according to Index Medicus (see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html). Internet resources should have their accessibility verified and all URLs should be checked again at proof stage.

Examples:
  • Journal article: Helmy Y, Abo-Elghait H, McGregor P, Samir A and George John e al. Skin Graft Complications in Children. AIMJ. 2019; 15 (5): 220-4.
  • Book chapter: Lister GD. Skin flaps. In Green DP, ed. Operative Hand Surgery. 3rd Ed. New York: Churchill Livingstone. 2015; 1741-1823.
  • Book: Mathes SJ, Nahai F. Reconstructive Surgery: principles, anatomy, and technique. New York: Churchill Livingstone. 1997.
  • Internet resource: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. Available at: http://www.icmje.org. Accessed 5th October 2019.
Data References:

This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Clinical Trial Registry

This journal advice all researchers for appropriate Clinical Trial Registry at any Known suitable registry on which you can register your trial. Clinical Trial Registry will be mandatory requirement for AIMJ at any time.

The WHO Registry is an International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). It has Pan African Clinical Trial Registry. Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (PACTR) is available to all African countries. It is free of charge and available at http://www.pactr.org/.

Proofs

One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author, which are requested to correct and return within 48 hours. Editor sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 available free from Adobe. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site.

Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do our best, to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that AIMJ may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.

Response to reviewers' comments:

When the Author does the required responses to reviewers' comments, He/she should send it in a separate word file and, put a different color (green or blue) for each correction made in manuscript. This makes it easier for reading.

The Authors should be informed that; The editor of a journal will receive their comments and might forward them on to reviewers. Responses should be answered point by point in a polite, organized, objective and scientific way.

Keep in your mind your response is concise and complete. There is no room for ego in your response. Start by thanking the reviewers for their efforts in revision. Answer each weakness they found in your paper in a satisfactory way for each comment. For sure strong revision gives an opportunity to have a high-quality article prior to publication.

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Copies of any permission(s)

It is the responsibility of authors/ contributors to obtain permissions for reproducing any copyrighted material. A copy of the permission obtained must accompany the manuscript. Copies of any and all published articles or other manuscripts in preparation or submitted elsewhere that are related to the manuscript must also accompany the manuscript.

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Ethics

We follow the same principles of ethics as ( BMS) https://authors.bmj.com/

Our policy is to ensure that all articles published by BMJ report on work that is morally acceptable and expects authors to follow the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki. To achieve this, we aim to appraise the ethical aspects of any submitted work that involves human participants, whatever descriptive label is given to that work including research, audit, and sometimes debate. Our policy on these issues has been developed with the help and advice of the BMJ Ethics Committee and its key elements are explained here.

Statement of Ethics Approval

We require every research article submitted to include a statement that the study obtained ethics approval (or a statement that it was not required and why), including the name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s), the number/ID of the approval(s), and a statement that participants gave informed consent before taking part.

In addition we welcome detailed explanations of how investigators and authors have considered and justified the ethical and moral basis of their work. If such detail does not easily fit into the manuscript please provide it in the covering letter or upload it as a supplemental file when submitting the article. We will also be pleased to see copies of explanatory information given to participants. Even if we do not include such detailed information in a final published version, we may make it available to peer reviewers and editorial committees. We already ask peer reviewers to consider and comment on the ethics of submitted work.

Appraisal of Ethical Issues

Editorial appraisal of ethical issues goes beyond simply deciding whether participants in a study gave informed consent although this is, of course, one very important issue to consider. Editors should judge whether the overall design and conduct of each piece of work is morally justifiable, as summed up by the following questions:

  • How much does this deviate from current normal (accepted, local) clinical practice?
  • What is the (additional) burden imposed on the patients (or others)?
  • What (additional) risks are posed to the patients (or others)?
  • What benefit might accrue to the patients (or others)?
  • What are the potential benefits to society (future patients)?

Even when a study has been approved by a research ethics committee or institutional review board, editors may be worried about the ethics of the work. Editors may then ask authors for more detailed information such as:

  • How they justified the ethical and moral basis of the work
  • To provide the contact details of the research ethics committee that reviewed the work, so that the journal can request further information and justification from that committee
  • To explain what ethical issues, they considered and how they justified their work, for studies that have not been reviewed by research ethics committees or institutional review boards

Editors may ask other editorial colleagues to evaluate the ethical aspects of an article, the authors’ comments, and the response of the relevant research ethics committee to the journal’s queries about ethics approval. This consultation may be informal, between the journal’s editors, or more formal, through seeking the advice of the BMJ Ethics Committee or the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Problems referred to COPE or the BMJ Ethics Committee will be considered as anonymized summaries of the relevant articles, written by the editors concerned.

What happens when the journal considers a study to be unethical?

We believe that editors have a duty to take on issues of unethical audit or research, not to seek punishment for the authors, but to prevent unethical practice and to protect patients. If the Editor, with or without the advice of its ethics committee and/or COPE, considers the work in a submitted article to be ethically unsound the editor may seek further advice or recommend investigation or action. The fact that the article would have been rejected any way for other scientific or editorial reasons would not prevent the editor from taking such further action on serious ethics problems. In the first instance the editor would usually contact the head of the department where the work was done to explain their concerns and recommend a local investigation. Secondly, the editor might write to the professional registration body of the paper’s guarantor or principal investigator. For a doctor in the UK, this body would be the General Medical Council.

Exceptional circumstances

In rare instances the journal might publish an article despite ethics problems in the work it reported. The usual reason would be that work done in one setting might not reach the ethical standard of work done in another setting, because of differing local resources and standards for health care and research. In deciding to publish such an article, we would consider carefully the context of the study and aim to balance the overall benefit to society against the possible harm to the research participants.

Ethical approval of research involving animals

All material published in BMJ journals which reports experiments performed using animals must adhere to high ethical standards concerning animal welfare.

Manuscripts will be considered for publication only if the work described:

  • Follows international, national and institutional guidelines for the humane treatment of animals and complies with relevant legislation.
  • Has been approved by the ethics review committee at the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted (where such a committee exists).
  • For studies involving non-human primates, demonstrates that the standards meet those of the NC3Rs primates guidelines;
  • For studies using client-owned animals, demonstrates a high standard (best practice) of veterinary care and involves informed client consent.
Before a manuscript can be accepted, authors must:
  • Confirm that legal and ethical requirements have been met with regards to the humane treatment of animals described in the study;
  • Specify in the Materials or Methods section the ethical review committee approval process and the international, national, and/or institutional guidelines followed.

Editors retain the right to reject manuscripts on the basis of ethical or animal welfare concerns. Papers may be rejected on ethical grounds if the study involves unnecessary pain, distress, suffering or lasting harm to animals, or if the severity of the experimental procedure does not appear to be justified by the value of the work presented. We ask that the work would be likely to gain approval in Europe under the European Directive 2010/63/EU (on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes).

See ‘What happens when the journal considers a study to be unethical?’ above for an outline of how ethical concerns will be dealt with.

Manuscripts describing animal research must include a justification for the use of animals, and for the particular species used. They should also provide details of animal welfare, including information about housing, feeding and environmental enrichment, a description of steps taken to minimize suffering, humane endpoints, and method of euthanasia. If the study has any implication for the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement), these should be discussed in enough detail so that readers can implement the 3Rs in similar experiments

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Study design

Selection and Description of Participants: Describe your selection of the observational or experimental participants (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population. Technical information: Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below); provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Precisely identify all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.

Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements, including the protocol, assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding), based on the CONSORT Statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).

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Reporting Guidelines for Specific Study Designs

Guideline Type of Study Source
STROBE Observational studies including cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies https://www.strobe-statement.org/index.php?id=available-checklists
CONSORT Randomized controlled trials
SQUIRE Quality improvement projects http://squire-statement.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&PageID=471
PRISMA Systematic reviews and meta-analyses http://prisma-statement.org/PRISMAStatement/Checklist.aspx
STARD Studies of diagnostic accuracy https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/full/10.1148/radiol.2015151516
CARE Case Reports https://www.care-statement.org/checklist
AGREE Clinical Practice Guidelines https://www.agreetrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/AGREE-Reporting-Checklist-2016.pdf

The reporting guidelines for other type of studies can be found at https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/.

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Statistics

Whenever possible quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Authors should report losses to observation (such as, dropouts from a clinical trial). When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Avoid non-technical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as 'random' (which implies a randomizing device), 'normal', 'significant', 'correlations', and 'sample'. Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. Specify the computer software used. Use upper italics (P 0.048). For all P values include the exact value and not less than 0.05 or 0.001. Mean differences in continuous variables, proportions in categorical variables and relative risks including odds ratios and hazard ratios should be accompanied by their confidence intervals.

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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 informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients' names from figures unless they have obtained informed consent from the patients. The journal abides by ICMJE guidelines:

  1. Authors, not the journals nor the publisher, need to obtain the patient consent form before the publication and have the form properly archived. The consent forms are not to be uploaded with the cover letter or sent through email to editorial or publisher offices.
  2. If the manuscript contains patient images that preclude anonymity, or a description that has obvious indication to the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.

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