Editorial process
All manuscripts submitted to the Nasarawa Journal of Medicine must not have been published in any form in any other publication or referee-based journals and become the property of the publishers. All manuscripts must be accompanied by a declaration statement signed by all the authors. “The undersigned author (s) certify (ies) that the article is original, is not under consideration by any other journal, and has not been previously published.
The Journal expects that authors would authorize one of them to correspond with the Journal on all matters related to the manuscript. All manuscripts received are duly acknowledged. On submission, editors review all submitted manuscripts initially for suitability for formal review. Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication are sent to three expert reviewers and overviewed by a handling Editor. The Journal uses a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other’s identity.
The comments and suggestions (acceptance/ rejection/ amendments in the manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author. If required, the author is requested to provide a point-by-point response to reviewers’ comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. A response to reviewer should specify how the authors addressed each comment the reviewers made. The response should be organized by presenting reviewers’ comments one by one, followed by the authors’ response. Authors should distinguish their responses from the reviewers’ comments by using phrases such as “author response” and/or a different font color. Then, each response should clearly explain the change made and where that change can be found in the revised manuscript (i.e., page number, paragraph, and/or line). If the authors did not make a suggested change, they should provide a rationale for their decision
This process is repeated till reviewers and editors have reached a conclusion and endorsed the manuscript.
Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author for corrections and spelling errors if any. The corresponding author is expected to return the corrected proofs within five days. After which it may not be possible to incorporate corrections. The whole process is done electronically.
Authorship
The individual contributions of authors to the manuscript should be specified. All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. The Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (URM) of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) recommends the following criteria for authorship (Learn more about the URM on Authorship and Contributorship): Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the three components mentioned below:
- Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
- Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content
- Final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, and 3.
When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript (3). These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship/contributorship defined above, and editors will ask these individuals to complete journal-specific author and conflict-of-interest disclosure forms. When submitting a manuscript authored by a group, the corresponding author should clearly indicate the preferred citation and identify all individual authors as well as the group name. Anyone who is involved in the research work but does not fulfil the requirements for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments.
Kindly note that the acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship.
Contribution Details
Contributors should provide a description of contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. The description should be divided into the following categories, as applicable: concept, design, definition of intellectual content, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing and manuscript review. The authors’ contributions will be printed along with the article.
One/more author/s should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to publication and should be designated as a ‘guarantor’.
Conflicts of interest/ competing interests
Author(s) must disclose any conflicts of interest he/she (they) may have with the publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented.
Submission of manuscripts
Manuscripts should be submitted online through the journal website. Alternatively, manuscripts could be submitted electronically to the editor via email at editor@nasarawajournalofmedicine.com
The manuscript should be submitted in the form of two separate files:
1. Title Page/First Page File/covering letter:
I. This file should provide the type of manuscript (original article, case report, review article, short communications, letter to the editor, etc.), the title of the manuscript, the running title, names of all authors/ contributors (designation and affiliations) and name(s) of the department(s) and/ or institution(s) to which the work should be credited.
II. All information which can reveal your identity should be here. The total number of pages, total number of photographs and word counts separately for the abstract and for the text (excluding the references, tables and abstract), word counts for introduction and discussion in case of an original article. Do not zip the file
III. Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these
IV. Acknowledgement, if any. One or more statements should specify 1) contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair; 2) acknowledgement of technical help; and 3) acknowledgement of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support.
V. If the manuscript was presented as part at a meeting, the organization, place, and exact date on which it was read. A full statement to the editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publication of the same or very similar work. Any such work should be referred to specifically, and referenced in the new paper. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper, to help the editor decide how to handle the matter.
VI. Competing interest, if any. When completing your declaration, please consider the following questions;
A). Financial competing interests
• Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the manuscript? Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript? If so, please specify.
• Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future? If so, please specify
• In the past five years have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future? Is such an organization financing this manuscript (including the article-processing charge)? If so, please specify.
B). Non-financial competing interests
• Are there any non-financial competing interests (political, personal, religious, ideological, academic, intellectual, commercial or any other) to declare in relation to this manuscript? If so, please specify.
• If you are unsure as to whether you or one of your co-authors, has a competing interest please discuss it with the editorial office.
VII. Registration number in case of a clinical trial and where it is registered (name of the registry and its URL)
VIII. The name, address, e-mail, and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs, if that information is not included on the manuscript itself.
2. Blinded Article file:
This file must not contain any mention of the authors’ names or initials or the institution at which the study was done or acknowledgements. Manuscripts not in compliance with the NASJM blinding policy will be returned to the corresponding author. The main text of the article, beginning from the Abstract to References (including tables) should be in this file. The pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the first page of the blinded article file.
3. Images
Must be good-quality colour images. Each image should be less than 4 MB in size. Images can be submitted as jpeg files. Do not zip the files. Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file.
4. The contributors’ / copyright transfer form
This has to be submitted in original form with the signatures of all the contributors at the time of submission of the manuscript. (A template of the contributor’s form is provided on the last page)
Preparation of manuscripts
Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with “Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals” developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (October 2006). The uniform requirements and specific requirements of the Nasarawa Journal of Medicine are summarized below. Before submitting a manuscript, contributors are requested to check for the latest instructions available. Nasarawa Journal of Medicine accepts manuscripts written in British English.
Copies of any permission(s)
It is the responsibility of authors/ contributors to obtain permission 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.
Types of Manuscripts
- Original articles
These include randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate. The text of original articles amounting to up to 3000 words (excluding Abstract, references and Tables) should be divided into sections with the headings Abstract (structured), Keywords, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables and Figure legends.
Introduction:
State the purpose and summarize the rationale for the study or observation.
Materials and Methods: Type of study; study site; study period; patient selection (inclusion criteria, non-inclusion criteria); Study parameters and data collection methodology; Statistical analysis methodology; Regulatory and ethical aspects
Ethics:
When reporting studies on human beings, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013 (available at http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17-c_e.html). For prospective studies involving human participants, authors are expected to mention the approval of (regional/national/ institutional or independent Ethics Committees or Review Boards. The journal will not consider any paper which is ethically unacceptable. A statement on ethics committee permission and ethical practices must be included in all research articles under the ‘Subjects and Methods section.
Results:
This should be concise, should not contain references and basically emphasizes or summarizes only important observations. It should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations, giving the main or most important findings first. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations. When data are summarized in the Results section, give numeric results as derivatives (for example, percentages) as well as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated, and specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Tables and figures are restricted to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and assess its support. The same data should not be presented in figures and tables.
Discussion:
The discussion section should focus on the implications of the results and any limitations of the study. It should relate the findings to other relevant studies. Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. In particular, contributors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analyses. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed.
Limitations:
Acknowledge the potential limitations of your study that and how they impact or influence the interpretation of the findings from your research, the generalizability, applications to practice, and/or utility of findings.
Conclusion:
The conclusion should provide a brief summary of the key findings, potential implications and recommendations.
What is already known on this topic: use a maximum of three (3) bullet points to state what is already known on this topic.
What this study adds: use a maximum of three (3) bullet points to state what your study adds to the existing knowledge
Acknowledgement:
Acknowledgement of technical assistance, critical advice or other assistance should be placed after discussion but before the references.
Competing Interest:
Authors are responsible for recognizing and disclosing conflicts of interest that might bias their work. Where there are no competing interests to disclose, the listing will read ‘The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests.
- Review Articles:
It is expected that these articles would be written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the field. A short summary of the work done by the contributor(s) in the field of review should accompany the manuscript. The prescribed word count is up to 3000 words excluding tables, references and abstracts. The manuscript may have about 90 references. The manuscript should have an unstructured Abstract (250 words) representing an accurate summary of the article. The section titles would depend upon the topic reviewed. Authors submitting review articles should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.
The journal expects the contributors to give post-publication updates on the subject of review. The update should be brief, covering the advances in the field after the publication of the article and should be sent as a letter to the editor, as and when major development occurs in the field.
- Case reports:
Interesting, challenging and rare cases can be reported. They should be unique, describing a great diagnostic or therapeutic challenge and providing a learning point for the readers. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority. The case report could be up to 1500 words (excluding the Title page, Abstract, Figures, Tables, Acknowledgement, Table or Figure Legends and references) and it could be supported with up to 10 references and could be authored by up to four (4) authors.
The NJM follows the 2013 CARE guidelines (for CAse REports) to support the accuracy, transparency, and usefulness of case reports. Authors of case reports should ensure that their submission follows the CARE Checklist;
- Title – The diagnosis or intervention of primary focus followed by the words “case report”.
- Key Words – 2 to 5 keywords that identify diagnoses or interventions in this case report (including “case report”).
- Abstract – (unstructured). This should have an introductory statement, the patient’s main concerns and important clinical findings, the primary diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes and conclusion
- Introduction – Briefly summarize why this case is unique and may include medical literature references.
- Patient Information
- Clinical Findings
- Timeline – Historical and current information from this episode of care organized as a timeline (figure or table).
- Diagnostic Assessment
- Therapeutic Intervention
- Follow-up and Outcomes
- Discussion – this should include the rationale for your conclusion and the primary “take-away” lessons from the case report
- The patient perspective
- Informed Consent – The patient should give informed consent. (Provide if requested.)
Figures (If any) should be included after the references. Pictures of patients should follow the journal’s guidance on preserving patient privacy and confidentiality.
- Letter to the Editor:
These should be short and decisive observations. They should preferably be related to articles previously published in the Journal or views expressed in the journal. They should not be preliminary observations that need a later paper for validation. The letter could have up to 500 words and 5 references. It could be generally authored by not more than four authors.
- Others:
Editorial, Guest Editorial, Commentary and Opinion are solicited by the editorial board.
References
References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (not in alphabetic order). Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript with square brackets after the punctuation marks. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure. Avoid using abstracts as references.
Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as “unpublished observations” with written permission from the source. Avoid citing a “personal communication” unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text.
Style of references
References should be in the Vancouver Style as laid down in the “Uniform Requirements for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals.-www.icmje.org
At the end of the article, the full list of references should give the surname and initials of all authors unless they are more than six when only the first six should be given, followed by et al.
The author(s) name(s) should be followed by the title of the article, the title of the Journal abbreviated as in Index Medicus, the year of publication, the volume number, and the first and last pages. For books, the references should follow the following format: the author (s), the title of the book, the place of publication, the publisher, the year and the relevant pages.
The commonly cited types of references are shown here,
Articles in Journals
- Standard journal article (for up to six authors): g., Ogunkunle TO, Abdukadir MB, Katibi OS, Bello SO, Raheem RA, Olaosebikan R. Pediatric blood culture isolates and antibiotic sensitivity pattern in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital; Niger J. Med 2020;29:261-4
- Standard journal article (for more than six authors): List the first six contributors followed by et al.g., Calvert C, Brockway M, Zoega H, Miller JE, Been JV, Amegah AK, et al. Changes in preterm birth and stillbirth during COVID-19 lockdowns in 26 countries: Nat Hum Bahav 2023; 7:529-544
- Volume with supplement: Shen HM, Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect 1994; 102 Suppl 1:275-82.
- Issue with supplement: Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Womens psychological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol 1996; 23(1, Suppl 2):89-97
Books and Other Monographs
- Personal author(s): Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.
- Editor(s), compiler(s) as author: Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.
- Chapter in a book: Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. pp. 465-78.
Electronic Sources as reference
Journal article on the Internet
Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12];102(6): [about 3 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm
Monograph on the Internet
Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [monograph on the Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/.
Homepage/Web site
Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/.
Part of a homepage/Web site
American Medical Association [homepage on the Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2002 [updated 2001 Aug 23; cited 2002 Aug 12]. AMA Office of Group Practice Liaison; [about 2 screens]. Available from: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1736.html
Tables
Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate textual material.
Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable. Tables should be numbered in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. Explanatory matter should be placed in the footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in the footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table.
Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and provide a credit line in the footnote.
Figures
Upload the images in JPEG format. The file size should be within 4 MB in size while uploading. Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text.
Labels, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of uniform size. The lettering for figures -should be large enough to be legible after reduction to fit the width of a printed column. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background and should be marked neatly with transfer type or by tissue overlay and not by pen.
Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations, not on the illustrations themselves.
When graphs, scatter-grams or histograms are submitted the numerical data on which they are based should also be supplied. The photographs and figures should be trimmed to remove all the unwanted areas. If photographs of individuals are used, their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.
If a figure has been published elsewhere, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. A credit line should appear in the legend for such figures.
Submission of revised manuscript
The revised version of the manuscript should be submitted online in a manner similar to that used for the submission of the manuscript for the first time. However, there is no need to submit the “First Page” or “Covering Letter” file while submitting a revised version. When submitting a revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include, the ‘referees’ remarks along with point-to-point clarification at the beginning of the revised file itself. In addition, they are expected to mark the changes as underlined or coloured text in the article.
Proofs will be sent to the corresponding authors by email approximately two (2) weeks before the publication date.
Charges
Nasarawa Journal of Medicine charges fifty thousand naira (N50,000) or its dollar equivalent as publication fees following acceptance of the manuscript. The fee is paid into the Associations account (below) and a scanned copy of the receipt is sent to the editor at editor@nasarawajournalofmedicine.com or WhatsApp at 08062766145
Account Name: MDCAN-DASH Lafia
Account Number: 8607815011
Bank: FCMB
Copy right
The entire contents of the Nasarawa Journal of Medicine are protected under copyright law. The Journal, however, grants to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, perform and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the rights. The journal also grants the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal non-commercial use under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 Unported License.
Checklist
Covering letter
- Signed by all contributors
- Source of funding mentioned
- Conflicts of interest disclosed
Authors
- Last name and given name provided along with Middle name initials (where applicable)
- E-mail address of the corresponding author provided.
- Number of contributors restricted as per the instructions
- Identity not revealed in paper except title page (e.g., name of the institute in Methods, citing previous study as ‘our study’, names on figure labels, name of institute in photographs, etc.)
Presentation and manuscripts format
- Double spacing
- Font size 12
- Page numbers included at the bottom
- Title page contains all the desired information
- Running title provided (not more than 50 characters)
- Abstract page contains the full title of the manuscript
- Abstract provided (structured abstract of 250 words for original articles, unstructured abstracts of about 150 words for all other manuscripts excluding letters to the Editor)
- Keywords provided (three or more)
- Headings in title case (not ALL CAPITALS)
- The references cited in the text should be after punctuation marks, in superscript with a square bracket.
- References according to the journal’s instructions, punctuation marks checked
- Send the article file without ‘Track Changes
Language and grammar
- Uniformly UK English
- Write the full term for each abbreviation at its first use in the title, abstract, keywords and text separately unless it is a standard unit of measure. Numerals from 1 to 10 are spelt out
- Numerals at the beginning of the sentence spelt out
- Check the manuscript for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors
- If a brand name is cited, supply the manufacturer’s name and address (city and state/country).
- Species names should be in italics
Tables and figures
- Table and figure numbers in Arabic letters (not Roman)
- Figures necessary and of good quality (colour)
- No repetition of data in tables and graphs and in text
- Actual numbers from which graphs drawn, provided
- Figure legends provided (not more than 40 words)
- Patients’ privacy maintained (if not permission taken)
- Credit notes for borrowed figures/tables provided
- Write the full term for each abbreviation used in the table as a footnote