Submissions

Author Guidelines

1. Submission Checklist

Before submitting their papers to the "Journal of Knowledge & Health in Basic Medical Sciences" (JKH), authors must ensure that their submission complies with all of the following items. There are several things that authors need to check, understand, and incorporate into their articles. Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in the submission being returned to the author. To ensure compliance, authors should follow the steps outlined in the checklists below:

1. Check the aims and scope of JKH and review recently published articles to ensure that their submission fits within the journal's aims and scope.
2. Provide a single document that includes the Title Page and Manuscript Text.
3. Number all pages consecutively, starting from the title page.
4. Use the template provided in the Author Guidelines, which can be found in the Submissions Menu.
5. Check the manuscript for grammar, spelling, consistency, and clarity.
6. Ensure that the submission main file (with author names and anonymously) is in Microsoft Word.
7. Anonymize the paper before submitting it.
8. Provide URLs for references with DOI.
9. Confirm that the submission has not been previously published, nor is it under consideration by another journal (unless explained in Comments to the Editor).
10. Use Times New Roman, single-spaced text with a 12-point font size, italicize instead of underlining (except for URL addresses), and place all illustrations, figures, and tables within the text at appropriate points.
11. Follow the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, especially regarding endnote formatting for references.
12. Include author name(s), affiliations, and contact information.
13. If research involves human subjects, human material, or human data, ensure it was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by an appropriate ethics committee. Include a statement detailing this information in all manuscripts reporting such research.
14. Be willing to follow the entire editing process until the manuscript is accepted or rejected for publication. If an author wishes to discontinue the process, they should notify the editor via email for article withdrawal.
15. Check the manuscript for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.
16. Review Journal policies outlined in this guide.

2. Submission Preparation

Preparation of manuscript

To ensure that your submission meets the requirements set out in the Author Guidelines, please follow these guidelines carefully. Failure to do so may result in your submission being returned. Your manuscript should be prepared in Microsoft Word 2007 or a newer version and should not be submitted in PDF format. The manuscript must be written in Farsi, with numbered pages, double-spaced, using Mitra 12-point font for Farsi text and Times New Roman 9-point font for English text. Adequate margins of 25 mm should be included on both sides of each page.

Your manuscript should include the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgment, and References

Title page

Title Page Requirements:

The title page of your manuscript should include the following information:

- Category of manuscript

- Title of manuscript

- First name and surname of all authors

- Highest academic degrees of all authors

- Affiliations of all authors (department, institution, city, state, country)

- Name of corresponding author with contact address, phone number, email, and fax number

- Short running title (less than 40 characters)

This information should be provided in both Farsi and English. The title should be concise, informative, and comprehensible to readers outside of the field. Avoid abbreviations and formulas whenever possible.

Additionally, the title page should include the following:

- Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these

- Registration number in case of a clinical trial and where it is registered (name of the registry and its URL)

- Acknowledgement, if any. One or more statements should specify contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair; acknowledgments of technical help; and acknowledgments of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support. This should be included in the title page of the manuscript and not in the main article file.

- Conflicts of Interest of each author/contributor. A statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest if that information is not included in the manuscript itself or in an authors' form.

- A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all authors.

Make sure to clearly indicate with an asterisk the corresponding author who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing, publication, and post-publication. Ensure that the email address is given and contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.

Abstract

The abstract should include the full title of the manuscript followed by the abstract text. For original articles, a structured abstract of no more than 250 words is required. The abstract should include an introduction, methods, results, conclusions, and at least 3 to 7 keywords chosen from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of index medicus. The abstract should be specific and relevant to the paper, and accurately reflect its content. For randomized controlled trials, the method of randomization and primary outcome measure should be stated in the abstract. Non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself. The abstract should state briefly and clear initial statement of the purpose of the research, the principal results, and major conclusions.

Immediately following the abstract, three to five keywords should be included for indexing purposes.

Introduction

The introduction, which is succinct and lacks subheadings, clearly states the objective, scope, and main advances of your work. It should summarize the purpose and rationale of the study and emphasize its significance. The introduction should provide enough information for another researcher to replicate the study but should not extensively review the subject or include data or conclusions. Thus, it is important to carefully review the current state of research in the field and cite key publications. The authors should briefly mention the primary aim of the work and highlight the main conclusions.

Materials and Methods:

This section should include a detailed description of the study design, ethics, and statistical methods used in the research.

- Ethics:

All research articles must include a statement on ethical practices and approval from an ethics committee.

Human participants: For studies involving human participants, approval from a regional/national/institutional or independent ethics committee or review board is required. Informed consent must also be obtained from participants, and confidentiality should be maintained by avoiding the use of identifying information in illustrations or text.

Experiments on animals: For experiments involving animals, institutions or national research councils' guides for the care and use of laboratory animals should be followed, and details of anesthetics and analgesics used should be provided.

- Study design:

1. Participants:

The selection process for observational or experimental participants (including controls) should be clearly described, along with standard eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population.

2. Materials and Methods:

Established methods, procedures, and statistical methods should be referenced. Procedures, methods, and apparatus should be identified clearly, including the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses. Sufficient detail should be provided to allow other researchers to reproduce the results. Brief descriptions and references should be given for methods that have been published but are not well known. New or substantially modified methods should be described and evaluated for their limitations. All drugs and chemicals used, including generic names, doses, and routes of administration, should be identified precisely.

In summary, this section should provide a clear and comprehensive description of the study design, ethical practices, and statistical methods used in the research.

-Statistics:

Outline the specific statistical methods utilized for data analysis. Provide clear definitions for all statistical terms, abbreviations, and symbols. When reporting P values, include the exact value and refrain from using less than 0.05 or 0.001.

Results

The results section should present data in the form of text, tables, and illustrations, organized in a logical sequence. Tables and figures should be included as necessary, but their contents should not be repeated in the text. Instead, refer to them by number to avoid unnecessary overlap between tables, figures, and text.

Text:

When describing your results, use the past tense and present only the data without interpretation or discussion of implications. If possible, use subheadings to separate the results of different experiments. Order the results by importance, rather than the order in which experiments were performed. A clear, brief, and accurate presentation of results is essential.

Tables

When including tables and figures in your results section, use the present tense to describe them. Tables should be self-explanatory and contain no textual material, with no more than 10 columns and 25 rows. Number them in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text, and provide a brief title for each. Explanatory information should be placed in footnotes, not in the heading, and use the following symbols in sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||,¶ , **, ††, ‡‡. Provide table legends at the end of the text after the references and avoid repeating data in the text, tables, and graphs.

Illustrations (Figures):

For illustrations (figures), ensure they are within 1024 kb in size and file formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, and PowerPoint with 300 dpi or 1800 x1600 pixels. Number them consecutively according to their first citation in the text and trim them to remove any unnecessary areas. If including pictures of individuals, obtain written permission to use them. Provide figure legends with a maximum of 40 words using Arabic numerals and explain any symbols, arrows, numbers, or internal scale (magnification) used. Identify the method of staining if applicable. Type figure legends on a separate page after references.

Discussion

In the Discussion section, focus on interpreting the meaning of your findings and how they relate to previous studies. Start by comparing your results with those of other studies and highlighting any consistencies or discrepancies. Present your conclusions in order of importance, avoiding repetition of detailed data already presented in the Results section.

Discuss any variations or similarities with other studies and provide possible reasons for any differences. Briefly describe the limitations of your study to show reviewers that you have considered potential weaknesses. Emphasize any new and important aspects of your study and explain how your results extend the findings of previous research. State whether the hypothesis stated in your article is true, false, or inconclusive. If your findings are preliminary, suggest future studies that should be carried out to build on your work. Overall, the Discussion should provide a clear and concise summary of the implications of your research.

References

The References section should list all sources cited in the text in the order they appear. Follow the instructions to authors and the journal's reference style for formatting. Number references consecutively based on their first mention in the text, not alphabetically. Use parentheses to indicate references in text and tables before punctuation marks. Authors should use the NLM format for references, as shown in the examples below. Original articles should not exceed 40 references, brief reports should have no more than 15, and case reports should have no more than 8. If a reference has more than six authors, list the first six followed by "et al." Ensure that all online links are correct by using tools like CrossRef. For other types of references, refer to the ICMJE Guidelines (http://www.icmje.org or  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

Commonly cited types of references are included below:

- Journal article: Author(s). Article title. Journal name. Year;Volume(Issue):Page numbers.

- Book: Author(s). Book title. Edition (if applicable). Place of publication: Publisher; Year.

- Book chapter: Author(s). Chapter title. In: Editor(s). Book title. Edition (if applicable). Place of publication: Publisher; Year. Page numbers.

- Website: Author or organization. Webpage title. Website name. URL. Published or updated date (if available). Accessed date.

Article:

1. Standard journal article:

Sharifiyan F, Mirjalili S A, Fazilati M, Poorazizi E, Habibollahi S. Cytotoxic effect of hydro-alcoholic extract of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) flowers and isolated ursolic acid on B16f10 melanoma cells. J Med Plants 2020; 19:177-191.

2. Article not in English:

Taebpour M, Majdizadeh M, Haghiralsadat BF. Fabrication and characterization of liposomal nanoparticles containing hydroalcoholic extract of Artemisia absintium and its toxicity on MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. Iranian Quarterly Journal of Breast Disease 2021;14:64-77.[Persian].

3. Organization as author:

The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Clinical exercise stress testing. Safety and performance guidelines. Med Aust 1996;164:282-4.

4. Anonymous author

Anonymous. (). Food safety shake-up needed in the USA. The Lancet, 2010:375(9732), 2122

5. Issue with supplement:

Bill, C., & Ahn, J. Integrating emergency care with population health. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2015: 16(4.1, Suppl.), S14-S16. 

6. In press:

Pourmand, D., Veisi-Raygani, A., Bahrehmand, F., Asadi, S. The Association between Apolipoprotein E Genotypes and Serum Malondialdehyde Level with End-Stage Renal Disease. Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences, In press 2023.

7. Journal article in electronic format:

Christina Gish Hill, “’General Miles Put Us Here’: Northern Cheyenne Military Alliance and Sovereign Territorial Rights,” American Indian Quarterly 37, no. 4 (Fall 2013): 355, http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=1d11d977-389e-4b0c-840d-dbf22d04827f%40sessionmgr4005&vid=18&hid=106&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=ahl&AN=90230474.

Book:

1. Personal author (s):

Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Church Lvingston;1996.

2. Books not in English:

Shariati M, Dadgari A, editors. Study guide: Preparation and its application in medical education. Tehran: Hayyan press;2007.[Persian].

3. Organization as author or publisher:

National Fire Protection Association.  Fundamentals of firefighting skills (2nd ed.). Jones and Bartlett;2009

4. Chapter in book:

Gharravi, A.M., Gholami, M.R., Azandeh, S., Haider, K.H.  Stem Cell for Cartilage Repair. In: Haider, K.H. (eds) Handbook of Stem Cell Therapy. Springer, Singapore. 2022.p.349-382

Dissertations:

Zambrano-Vazquez, L. (2016). The interaction of state and trait worry on response monitoring in those with worry and obsessive-compulsive symptoms [Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona]. UA Campus Repository. 2016

Conference:

1. Conference paper:

Jang, S. Deconstructing the opposition of natural/arbitrary in Coleridge’s theory of language [Paper presentation]. NASSR .2019, August 8–11)Romantic Elements, Chicago, IL, United States.

2. Conference proceedings:

Elgafy, A., & Lafdi, K. Nanoparticles and fiber walls interactions during nanocomposites fabrication. Journal of Scientific Conference Proceedings, 2010.2(1), 15–23

Web Site:

Caulfield, J. How to Cite a Website in APA Style | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved March 20, 2023, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-examples/website/

3. Peer review

We follow a four-step peer review process for submissions that adhere to the guidelines mentioned above:

The research paper evaluation begins with an internal review by all authors to address any issues. After submission, independent external reviewers assess the paper's quality, accuracy, and completeness based on journal criteria. Their feedback may lead to acceptance, rejection, or a request for revision. The editor makes the final decision, considering the reviewers' comments on potential improvements. The research paper evaluation begins with an internal review by all authors to address any issues. After submission, independent reviewers assess the paper's quality, accuracy, and completeness based on journal criteria. Their feedback may lead to acceptance, rejection, or a request for revision. The editor makes the final decision, considering the reviewers' comments on potential improvements.

Step 1: (internal review): Our statisticians and internal screeners with authors evaluate the articles for any methodological flaws, format, and compliance with the journal's instructions.

Step 2: A section editor is assigned based on the manuscript's specialty, and a submission code is allocated for all future communications.

Step 3: (external review): The articles undergo a double-blind review by at least two anonymous external reviewers (outside organization who was not part of the journal editorial board and journal office) selected by the Editorial Board. The reviewers' comments are shared with the authors, who respond to them along with the reviewers' comments. The section editor evaluates these responses.

Step 4: The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision to accept, reject, or request modifications to the manuscript. The corresponding author is notified of this decision as soon as possible. If the manuscript meets our criteria, it is scheduled for the next available issue.

4. After peer review

Once the corresponding author has been notified of the need for revisions, they must adhere to a deadline for submitting the initial revision. To ensure a successful revision process, authors should carefully read and respond to the peer reviewer's comments, addressing each point in the manuscript file. The manuscript should then be revised according to the reviewer's comments, with any changes clearly highlighted through underlining or the use of different text colors. Authors must submit two files online: the revised manuscript and a reply template file that includes point-by-point clarifications of the referees' remarks. When submitting the revised manuscript, contributors should use the 'Submit Revision' page of the website and ensure that all changes are marked as colored text in the article

5. After acceptance

Proof Reading:

The corresponding author will receive the manuscript proof for proofreading before publication to prevent any errors. Any required corrections or editorial comments should be clearly marked and promptly sent to the Journal office.

6. Publication Ethics

JKH adheres to the guidelines set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for publishing and ethical standards. For more information on these guidelines, please visit COPE and the ICMJE website (http://www.icmje.org/#privacy). Additionally, any research involving human or animal subjects must adhere to the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/).

• Clinical trial registry

JKH requires that authors publish clinical trials that have been registered with a national or international clinical trial registry. Registration details must be provided by the authors.

• Informed consent:

Informed consent is an ongoing process that must occur before any clinical trial-related procedures are conducted. According to ICMJE guidelines, patients or research participants have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. The patient must be competent to make a voluntary decision about whether to undergo the procedure. Therefore, JKH would not publish identifying information, including patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers without written informed consent. Additionally, all patients and participants of the research should be thoroughly informed about the aims of the study and any possible side effects of the drugs and intervention. Written informed consent from the participants or their legal guardians is necessary for any such studies. The informed consent document must be fully approved by an institutional ethics committee prior to its use with trial participants, and it must have at least two signature and date lines. JKH reserves the right to request related documents.

• Authorship Criteria

Based on the newly released recommendations by the ICMJE, “an Author” is generally considered to be someone who meets the following conditions 4 criteria:

"1. Substantial contribution to the Concept or design of study; or acquisition of data, analysis or interpretation of data; and

2. Drafting the article or revising 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."

All authors should comply with the journal's policies on conflict of interest. The journal includes only one corresponding author per article, and any further contribution details must be included in the contributors or acknowledgement sections at the end of the article. The order of naming contributors should be based on their relative contribution towards the study and writing the manuscript. Once submitted, the order cannot be changed without written consent from all contributors.

Before submitting a manuscript to JKH, the authorship list and order must be agreed upon by all listed authors and contributors, and they must also agree on who will take on the role of corresponding or contact author. Not all contributors necessarily qualify for authorship.

• Conflict of interest

When submitting a manuscript to JKH, authors must fully disclose any potential conflicts of interest, whether financial or non-financial, that they or their employer or sponsor may have with other organizations or individuals that could influence their research. This information can be included in the cover letter or on the manuscript submission form in the journal's online peer-review system. The corresponding author is responsible for confirming with all co-authors whether they have any conflicts to declare. If there are no competing interests to report, authors should include a statement to that effect in the article. Failure to disclose conflicts of interest may result in the publication of a statement indicating that no potential competing interest was reported by the authors. According to ICMJE guidelines, a conflict of interest may also arise when an author, reviewer, or editor has personal or financial relationships that could bias their actions. Any perceived associations that could be considered a conflict of interest must also be declared. Examples of non-financial conflicts of interest include access to drugs, equipment, data repositories, or archival resources. Maintaining transparency regarding potential conflicts of interest is essential to ensuring the integrity and credibility of published research.

• Plagiarism

To ensure the integrity of published research, JKH requires that all manuscripts be free from plagiarism. Authors are strongly advised to use plagiarism detection software to check for similarities in their work before submission. Editors at JKH use both Grammarly and iThenticate to check for plagiarism and self-plagiarism. Any manuscripts found to contain plagiarism will be immediately rejected, and if there is convincing evidence of plagiarism, COPE guidelines will be followed. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their work is entirely original and that the similarity level of their manuscript is less than 10%. Additionally, any detected references must have a maximum similarity of 1%. Textual similarity exceeding 10% will not be accepted.

• Copyright

The entire contents of JKH are protected under international copyrights. This Journal is for your personal noncommercial use. You can modify copy, distribute, transmit, display, or publish any materials contained on the Journal with the written permission.

• Misconducts

JKH strictly prohibits the publication of papers that involve research misconduct, which includes plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication. The journal follows COPE's guidelines (or equivalent) in addressing any allegations of research misconduct related to a published article. JKH will not publish any papers where such misconduct has occurred and is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity.

• Page charges

No fees are required for publication in this journal.

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