AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Articles are submitted by one author on behalf of all the authors. The submitting author will be the corresponding author. The corresponding author will be responsible for the certification of the authenticity of the submitted paper and will address all issues of conflict of interest and copyright transfer.

Articles should be submitted in English or in French. An abstract should be provided in French if the article is in English, and vice versa. The text should be written using the font type Arial, size 12 with a 1.0 line spacing. Line and page numbers should be included in the submitted manuscript. There should be no headers, footers or footnotes. Block paragraphing should be used. The title page should include:

  • A concise title of not more than 20 words
  • First and last name of the authors. The middle name should be abbreviated, if applicable
  • Affiliation of each author (institution)
  • Complete address of the corresponding author (institution, e-mail, postal address, and phone number)

AJUMED declines responsibility on the authenticity of the authors’ affiliations and qualifications. This is the exclusive responsibility of the authors.

Research articles

All research articles should be structured as follows:

  • Title page
  • Abstract
  • Résumé with a short title in French (Abstract with a short title in English if the manuscript is written in French)
  • Capsule summary
  • Background
  • Materials and methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Conflict of interest
  • Acknowledgements
  • Funding
  • Authors’ contributions
  • Tables
  • Figures
  • Images and commentaries
  • References

Abstract

Abstracts should be structured as follows: Background, Aim, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. Three to five keywords should be provided. The length of the abstract should be a maximum of 250 words (not including the keywords).

Capsule Summary

All authors should provide a capsule summary of not more than 50 words. This should be organized under the following headings:

  1. What is known on this topic?
  2. What is the research problem/question?
  3. What does this study add to current knowledge?
  4. What are the implications (relevance) of the findings?

Background

The Background section should present the concept, historical aspects if necessary and the context. The research problem should be clearly elucidated and this section should conclude with the aim or objectives.

Materials and methods

The Materials and methods section should describe the study design (with justification), study setting and period, target and study population(s), sample size estimation and sampling techniques, data collection tools and their use or development, data analysis and management. All equipment and techniques used should be succinctly described including manufacturer labels. The procedures and sequence of events including the roles and responsibilities of the investigators should be comprehensibly described to enable a rational assessment of the validity, credibility and trustworthiness of the methods and hence the results obtained. Ethical issues should be addressed and references of ethical clearance(s)/administrative authorizations provided in this section. Authors may be required to show proof of the said ethical clearance or authorization(s) for the research.

Results

In this section the authors should present the salient findings from the study using tables and appropriate diagrams. Do not use multiple methods to present the same findings. Clinical images should be of good resolution and important features of interest sufficiently labelled (see section on Clinical Images).

Discussion

In the Discussion section the authors should provide possible explanations for the current research findings and relate with relevant published literature on the topic. The study objectives and/or hypotheses should be revisited here and the findings elucidated to the extent they respond to the set objectives and hypotheses. The authors should highlight the prospects and implications of the current research findings, and suggest possible solutions to the problems raised.

Conclusion

Authors are encouraged to respond to the research question or study aim and highlight on the importance of the study and/or perspectives.

References

The Vancouver system is recommended for all publication types. Authors are encouraged to use a referencing software such as Mendeley®, Zotero®, EndNote®, Reference Manager®, etc. For in-text citations superscript or square brackets (e.g. 2 or [2]) should be used and should appear before the punctuation.

Review articles

These could be narrative, pictorial, scoping or systematic reviews with meta-analysis. An abstract is recommended (250 words) including a Capsule Summary, and the text should follow the pattern of a research article. Subtitles can be introduced at the discretion of the authors.

Case reports

Case reports should be structured as follows: Abstract, Introduction, Case presentation, Discussion, Conclusion, Conflict of interest, Acknowledgement, Funding, References, Tables and Figures. Authors are encouraged to present an extensive sequence of events including diagnosis, management and follow-up as much as possible, with emphasis on the teaching points. A Capsule Summary is also mandatory for Case reports. The number of authors for Case reports should be limited to a maximum of five (05), the length of the text 1500 words (excluding the Abstract and Capsule Summary), and a maximum of ten (10) references.

Clinical images

Images deemed interesting to be shared for learning purposes are welcome. These can include rare presentations of common pathologies, typical presentations of pathologies that have been given little attention in the medical literature or using different imaging modalities, interesting associations, etc. The text should comprise not more than 1000 words with a maximum of five (05) references. The number of authors of Clinical Images should not be more than three. The image format should be PNG, JPEG or TIFF and of appropriate resolution (minimum 300dpi) with comments embedded. References to the source of all images submitted will be required, and the authors take full responsibility for all contentious issues arising regarding images published. Images are submitted within the main manuscript after the references. The format of Clinical Images is similar to Case Reports.

Tables & Figures

All tables should be assigned a title and number in Roman numerals which should feature above the table. All tables should have three horizontal lines according to the Vancouver system. Figures should be numbered in Arabic numerals and the title and commentaries should feature below the image. Annotation of clinical images is encouraged.

Editorials, commentaries and letters to the editors

Authors of such correspondences should be concise and address specific issues. The length should be between 500 to 1000 words.

SUBMISSION

Whilst anticipating an online submission system and the creation of a template, all submissions should be sent to the following address: ajumed.submission@gmail.com.

ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGE

In order to facilitate the publication process and cover administrative costs, this journal will charge authors a publication fee. Waivers and discounts will be available for authors on a case-by-case basis with potential beneficiaries including authors without funding for research and those in training.

INDEXING

Publications of this journal will be indexed in relevant databases to improve visibility. This will be progressive and there will be emphasis on the transparency and traceability of the peer-review process and pre-publication history. Citations of published articles in this journal is encouraged to enable the journal obtain an impact factor.

ETHICS

All authors of a manuscript are responsible for obtaining ethical clearance and the necessary authorizations for submitted papers. They take full responsibility of the scientific integrity of submitted material and reviewers may require ethical approvals be provided. Authorship must be justifiable during submission. All research should be conducted in accordance with The Helsinki Declaration. All material submitted to this journal for publication will be subject to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.