Author Guidelines

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1. Author’s Declaration

2. Authorship

3. Case Report Consent Form

4. Case Report Template

5. Checklist for Case Report

6. Conflict of Interest

7. Cover Letter

8. Manuscript

9. Forwarding Letter

10. Letter to Editor Template

11. Original Article Template

12. Viewpoint Template

INTRODUCTION

Annapurna Journal of Health Sciences (AJHS) is an official peer-reviewed biannual journal of Annapurna Neurological Institute & Allied Sciences which publishes original research work that contributes significantly to nurture the scientific knowledge in medical sciences including but not limited to clinical, public health, nursing, diagnostic science, basic science as well as health care management. The Journal publishes original research work either as a full Research Paper, Case Studies, Short Communication and Review Articles. Viewpoints on current topics in medical sciences are also considered for publication by the Journal.

The main aim of AJHS is to – 

• To promote capacity building and foster the culture of research in health & allied sciences.
• To foster collaborative research work with national and international Institutes and organizations.
• To provide a platform for dissemination of the scientific studies and article which can significantly augment quality in health care setting as well as provide evidence based knowledge.
• To provide desired academic impetus and support to the academic scientists as well as health care professionals.

The peer review process

Once a manuscript is received, it is screened thoroughly to evaluate that it is within the scope of the journal, and prepared according to the format, usually followed by a plagiarism check. Manuscripts that fail to conform to the requirements of the journal, as specified under “Instructions to Authors”, will be rejected. Those manuscripts that meet the specified requirements of the journals are subsequently assigned to an Editor for further processing.

The Editor assigns a minimum of 2 expert peer reviewers blinded to the contributor’s identity and vice versa to access the suitability of the scientific content for publishing. The editor-in-chief decision of acceptance, rejection or request for revision of the manuscript is strictly based on the comments of at least two reviewers. The contributors are informed about the rejection/acceptance of the manuscript with the peer reviewer’s comments. Accepted articles have to be resubmitted after making the necessary changes or clarifying questions made during the peer review process.

The accepted articles are edited for grammatical, punctuation, print style and format errors and page proofs and are sent to the corresponding author who should return them within three days. Non-response to galley proof may result in the delay of publication or even rejection of the article.

Manuscript Submission:

We accept the manuscript in the following sections:

• Original article
• Case report/ case series
• Short communications
• View point
• Review article
• Letter to editor
• Guest Editorial and
• Meta-Analysis & Systematic Review

Submission of Manuscript

All manuscripts must be submitted through registering to our Journal website www.ajhs.org.np in accordance to the submission guideline in the website. Any queries regarding submission can be mailed at aca@ahc.com.np

Please note that all manuscripts should be submitted by corresponding author.

Authors do not have to pay for submission, processing or publication of articles. If you experience any problems, please contact the editorial office by e-mail. The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the “Instructions to Authors” would be returned to the authors for technical correction, before they undergo editorial/ peer-review.

Manuscript should contain: Title, Author, Co-author and Corresponding Author list with full designation contact address with ORCID ID of corresponding author. The manuscript should start from Abstract, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgement, Reference, Figures and Tables, Supplementary documents.

1. Title Page/First Page File/covering letter:

This file should provide

• The type of manuscript (original article, case report, review article, Letter to editor, Images, etc.)
• The title should not be more than 50 characters and avoid excessive adjectives and noun strings.
• Title of the manuscript, running title, names of all authors/ contributors (with their highest academic degrees, designation and affiliations) and name(s) of department(s) and/ or institution(s) to which the work should be credited. All information which can reveal your identity should be here. This file should be sent in Doc/docx format.
• Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these;
• 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
• 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.

2. Abstract

This section should be in structured manner in second page under the following sub-headings, avoiding superfluous detail and be clear and concise. The word count ought to be 250 words.

Background: Introduction to the topic including the rational of study

Objective: Include the specific study aims or hypothesis

Methods: Include study design, statistical analysis used, setting, patients, interventions and main outcome, measures, 

Results: give numerical data rather than vague statements

Keywords: Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 5 key words. Be sparing with abbreviations. Do not cite references in the abstract. Limit the use of abbreviations and acronyms.

3. Introduction

State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background. The Introduction should lead the reader to the importance of the study; tie-up published literature with the aims of the study and clearly states the rationale behind the research/study.

4. Materials and methods

Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Study type and design should be mentioned. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described. All important materials used along with their source shall be mentioned. The main methods used shall be briefly described, citing references. Trivial details may be avoided. New methods or substantially modified methods may be described in sufficient detail. The statistical method and the level of significance chosen shall be clearly stated.

Ethics: When reporting studies on human beings, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible Ethical Review board/ Institutional review Committee and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (available at http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17-c_e.html). For prospective studies involving human participants, authors are expected to mention about approval of Ethics Committee or Review Board, obtaining informed consent from adult research participants. Ensure confidentiality of subjects by desisting from mentioning participants’ names, initials or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. 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 ‘Materials and Methods’ section

5. Reporting Guideline

The guidelines listed below should be followed where appropriate. Please use these guidelines to structure your article. Completed applicable checklists, structured abstracts and flow diagrams should be uploaded with your submission; these will be published alongside the final version of your paper.

6. Results 

Results should be clear and concise. All findings presented in tabular or graphical form shall be described in this section. The data should be statistically analyzed and the level of significance stated. Data that is not statistically significant need only to be mentioned in the text - no illustration is necessary. All Tables and figures must have a title or caption and a legend to make them self- explanatory. Results section shall start after materials and methods section.

7. Discussion

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature. Discussion should follow results, deal with the interpretation of results, convey how they help increase current understanding of the problem and should be logical. Unsupported hypothesis should be avoided. The Discussion should state the possibilities the results uncover, that need to be collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references. Individuals with direct involvement in the study but not included in authorship may be acknowledged.

Please submit the following documents during submission to AJHS. (Please click on the provided documents to view the sample/templates). Please send the following documents with manuscript in which is available in the submission guideline of the journal website

1. 1. Forwarding Letter
2. Authorship
3. Declaration
4. Manuscript
5. A copy of the ethical approval letter
6. Conflict of Interest

8. Conclusion

The aim should be stated in the introduction about what this study shows. The conclusion must be linked with the goal of the study. Describe how the findings contradict or support the current literature and information.

FOCUS & SCOPE

AJHS invites original research papers, review articles, case reports, viewpoints and letter to the editor containing new insight into any aspect of Medical & Health Science that are not published or not being considered for publication elsewhere. The journal is particularly interested and welcomes papers in basic and clinical/ medical sciences, public health, hospital and healthcare management too.

EDITORIAL

It is written by AJHS editors or invited guest (Guest Editorial) on most pertinent issues on Health in Nepal or in the world. It undergoes a fast-track peer review process. The letter to editor should include the abstract where it should be a brief, conclusive observation. They shouldn't be preliminary findings that require validation in a subsequent paper. In 400 words maximum and 5 references.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

AJHS accept researches conducted in the field of basic and clinical medical sciences, medical education, public health, hospital and healthcare management, allied health sciences with the maximum length of 2500-3500 words (excluding abstract of 250 words). It undergoes a rigorous peer review process. There is no limitation for the reference. It should include Title, Abstract, Introduction, Material and Methods, Result, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgement and Reference in their guidelines provided above. Required Submission Documents:

1. 1. Forwarding Letter
2. Authorship
3. Declaration
4. Manuscript
5. A copy of the ethical approval letter
6. Conflict of Interest

CASE REPORTS

This section includes report of a case with literature review that includes, an unexpected association between diseases or symptoms, an unexpected event in the course of observing or treating a patient, findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease or an adverse effect, unique or rare feature of a disease, unique therapeutic approaches, approaches to a case report, a patient whose diagnosis was difficult to make, describe changes in one or more patients with chronic conditions over an extended time period, report on two or more patients with similar characteristics who received different interventions and had different outcomes, atypical management of patients with common problems, atypical patient presentations, apply theory to patient or client management, report on an administrative or academic experience. Cases that are new, intriguing, or extremely rare and have clinical implications may be reported. A maximum of 3-5 keywords arranged alphabetically and up to 1000 words, excluding references (up to 10) and the abstract (up to 150 words).

Please use the CARE Case Report Checklist while preparing your case report taking an account of CARE Flow Diagram. Please download the Case Report Consent Form from the journal website, get a written consent and put the original on the patient chart and provide a copy of it during your submission. Required Submission Documents:

1. Forwarding Letter
2. Authorship
3. Declaration
4. Manuscript
5. A copy case report consent form &
6. CARE checklist

REVIEW ARTICLE

Review article summarizes the current state of understanding on a topic and analyses or discusses research previously published by others on the subject matter. They are thorough literature reviews that identify historical and current trends in the topic, gaps in the research (areas for further exploration), and current debates or controversies. It has to be about 3000 words without counting abstract (200 words) and references (>50 and usually <100). It undergoes a rigorous peer review process.

Required Submission Documents:

1. Forwarding Letter
2. Authorship
3. Declaration
4. Manuscript

SHORT COMMUNICATION

These are research article which doesn’t fit exactly into research article but findings are interesting, e.g. pilot study. It undergoes the peer review process. Required Submission Documents:

1. Forwarding Letter
2. Authorship
3. Declaration
4. Manuscript

VIEWPOINT

The article in this section is based on issues related to health sciences to raise the voice, awareness, new ideas, thought to provoke concepts, and personal expert opinion to improve the health.

   Required Submission Documents:

1. Forwarding Letter
2. Authorship
3. Declaration
4. Manuscript

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The section includes a reaction and issue relating to AJHS, be it a comment relating a recent article, an elaboration of an important discovery, or simply a thought-provoking commentary of fewer than 1000 words without an abstract.

Required Submission Documents:

1. Forwarding Letter
2. Authorship
3. Declaration
4. Manuscript

References

All the references that are being used are numbered in the order they are first mentioned. The reference numbers for tables and legends have to be used along with the parenthesis. In the event of reuse of the earlier reference, the same reference number needs to be used.

Reference numbering:

All the references that are being used are numbered in the order they are first mentioned. The reference numbers for tables and legends have to be used along with the parenthesis. In the event of reuse of the earlier reference, the same reference number needs to be used.

Reference Examples

References on the reference list are numbered and are listed in other in which they are originally referenced in the text.

Book—Single Author/Editor Format:

1. Title: subtitle (if available). Edition (other than 1st). Place of publication: Publisher; Year.

Example: 1. Snell RS. Clinical anatomy by regions. 9th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2012.

2. Author(s), editors (if editors, include this denotation). Title: subtitle (if available). Edition (other than 1st). Place of publication: Publisher; Year.

Example: 2. Voight ML, Hoogenboom BJ, Prentice WE, editors. Musculoskeletal interventions: techniques for therapeutic exercise. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2007. *If a book has more than six authors/editors, write “et al” after the sixth name.

For journal articles (examples)

With One Author

With Two Author

With 3-6 Author

Tables: 

 The tables that are being used in the manuscript need to be numbered accordingly. Table title needs to be stated for all the tables that are being used. A heading need to be mentioned for each column. Mention the reference source if the data is taken from another source. The content and explanation about the table need to be mentioned in the note below and not in the heading. Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not permitted. Internal horizontal or vertical lines should not be used. The authors need to explain all the non-standard abbreviation in footnotes, and use of symbols.

Preparation of Figures

• The resolution of the Image should be approximately 300 dpi and the dimension of 640 x 480 to 800 x 600 pixels dimension
• TIFF (recommended for images)
• JPEG (recommended for photographic images, less suitable for graphical images)
• Send clear, glossy, black-and-white or color photographic prints, typically 127 x 173 mm (5 x 7 inches), for x-ray films, scans, and other diagnostic images, as well as photos of pathology specimens or photomicrographs.

Unit of Measurements

A unit of measurement is a specific magnitude of a quantity that is adopted by law or convention and used as a standard for measuring other quantities of the same kind. Measurements should be expressed in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter) or their decimal multiples for length, height, weight, and volume. Blood pressure measurements should be made in millimeters of mercury and Temperatures must be expressed in Celsius, unless the journal specifically specifies other units.

Forwarding/ cover letter

The name and complete postal address of one author should be listed as the correspondent on the covering letter that goes with the article, and all authors must sign it. Any changes in address should be promptly reported by the associated author. In the cover letter, discuss why the journal should publish your work and why its readers will find it interesting. Forwarding letter should be:

• Signed by all contributors
• Previous publication / presentations mentioned
• Source of funding mentioned
• Conflicts of interest disclosed

Authorship:

To obtain authorship credit, a person must partake in all of the following four phases of journal publication:

• Substantial contribution to research design, data collection and analysis;
• Drafting or revising any important intellectual content;
• Final review and approval before article submission; and
• Agreement to be accountable “for all aspects of the work” necessary to ensure that “questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.”

Declaration

The authors should ensure that the manuscript is not a duplicate publication. The manuscript will not be submitted elsewhere until the editorial process is completed. All authors shall sign declarations in the order that they are listed in the original manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

All the funding, other material support and financial support for this work are clearly identified in the manuscript and all competing interests, including specific financial interests and relationships and affiliations relevant to the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript (e.g.. employment/ affiliation, grants or funding, consultations,  stock ownership or options, expert testimony, royalties, or patents filed, received, or pending), are disclosed in the Acknowledgment section of the manuscript.

Grammar

• Spelt out the numerals at the beginning
• Use correct punctuation, grammar and word synthesis
• When beginning a sentence spell out single digit numbers from 1-9 and use numerals for others