INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

International Research Journal of Multidisciplinary Scope (IRJMS) is requesting all the authors to abide by journal instructions, failure in doing them may result in manuscripts being delayed or rejected. Therefore authors are strongly encouraged to read these instructions carefully before preparing a manuscript for submission. The manuscripts should be checked carefully for grammatical errors. All manuscripts are subjected to peer review by well qualified and experienced editorial team members.

Types of manuscripts
The journal will consider the following article types;

Research Articles
The articles that present the results of the original research study are considered as research articles. These manuscripts should describe how the research project was conducted and provide a thorough analysis of the results of the project. Research articles should not be more than 20 print pages. If crosses 20 print pages, then depend on the the research contents and articles’ need, the editor may take the final decision for publication. The research articles should include the following in the order given below:

  • Abstract,
  • Keywords
  • Introduction
  • Materials and Methods
  • Results including Tables and/or Figures
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • References (Vancouver referencing style)
  • Appendixes [if necessary]
  • Abbreviations used [if necessary]

Reviews and Mini-Reviews
Review articles should not be more than 25 print pages and contain comprehensive coverage of relevant literature. If crosses 25 print pages, then depend on the the review contents and topic, the editor may take the final decision for publication. Review articles should preferably be written by scientists who have in-depth knowledge of the topic. All format requirements are similar to those applicable to Research papers. Review articles need not be divided into sections such as Materials and methods, and Results and discussion, but should definitely have an abstract and introduction.

Short Communication
Short Communications are brief reports that present original and significant research and need to be published quickly. It may focus on a hot topic or may have new findings that are expected to have a significant impact on a current problem. Short communications are expected to have a higher than average impact.

Case reports
New, interesting, 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.

Letter to the editor
It should be brief 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. 

Fast track Review and Publication
Authors whose article they want to be evaluated for the expedited process should submit precise, new discoveries of exceptional and urgent importance. Even highly significant but complex research will not be eligible because it is unlikely that reviewers could complete them in a timely manner. It is anticipated that fast-track manuscripts will be accepted for publication in almost their original format. Significantly revised manuscripts won’t meet the requirements for expedited processing.
Submission procedure

A. Explain in the cover letter why you are requesting fast-track review.
B. Explicitly state whether there is any overlap with already published or submitted work.

Review procedure

  1. Within a maximum of 7 days the Editor-in-Chief will decide whether the paper can enter the fast track.
  2. If the Editor-in-Chief denies fast-track review, the author is offered the option of having the manuscript placed in the regular review process. Author must respond within a week otherwise the paper will be rejected. The review process and acceptance or rejection of a fast track paper will be decided within 3 weeks. This decision is final (rejected manuscripts will not enter the ordinary review process).
  3. If acceptance requires minor changes they must be performed by the authors within a week.
  4. Accepted papers will published in the next available issue.

Checklist for Submissions

When an article is being final checked before it is submitted for review to the International Research Journal of Multidisciplinary Scope (IRJMS), the following list will come in handy. Kindly refer to this Author’s Guide for additional information on any given item. Verify the presence of the following items:
Cover Letter
a. Disclosure of any earlier submissions or publications containing material that is similar a declaration that the work is not being considered for publication or released as a preprint elsewhere.
b. Disclosure of any apparent or actual conflict of interest for each of the listed authors
c. The names and contact details of 2-3 possible reviewers
Declarations of Authorship
Kindly include a distinct declaration for every identified writer.
Title Page
Article title
Full names, academic degrees (master’s level and above), and affiliations of all authors.
Name, address, e-mail address, telephone and fax number of the corresponding author.
Sources of funding and acknowledgments of support and assistance.
Disclosure of potential conflicts, real and perceived, for all named authors.
Clinical trials registry site and number.
List of abbreviations.

Manuscript
Abstract in the appropriate format: Original Articles and Briefs require non structured abstracts; Review Articles and Case study require unstructured abstracts
List of keywords: 4-6 key words
Implications and Contributions statement
Institutional Review Board (IRB) Research Ethics Board (REB) statement in the Methods section- or consent statement for Case reports in the Methods section
References should be formatted as per authors’ guideline (Please refer reference section for details); all references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa.
Figure titles should be on a separate page
Manuscript has been spell-checked and grammar-checked
Page should be numbed
Tables
Each saved as a separate page, including title and footnotes
Figures
Each saved as a separate page, with captions/legends
Figure titles should be below the figure
Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)

Manuscripts preparations
The language of the journal is English. Manuscript should be typed in Times New Roman font, one and a half-spaced on A4 (8.5″ × 11″) paper size with 1 inch margins. Title should be in bold face upper case with font size of 14, main headings should be in bold face upper case with font size 12 and subheadings should be in bold face lower case.

The manuscript should be arranged in the following order:

1. Title page

The title page should contain a clear, concise, and informative title of the article followed by the names and affiliations of the authors. The affiliation should comprise the department, institution (usually university or company), city, and state (or nation) and should be typed as a footnote to the author’s name. The Corresponding Author must indicate his or her complete mailing address, office/cellular phone number, fax number, and email address at the lower left of the Title Page. The authors should ensure that their manuscript(s) must fall within aims and scope. Authors are required to indicate the specific subject area, mentioned in aims and scope, on the top of the title page. For example; Microbiology, Biotechnology or Structural biology, etc.

2. Article Structure

Your article should be divided into distinct sections. A brief heading is assigned to each subsection. Every heading ought to be displayed on a distinct line. When cross-referencing text, it is best to use subsections as often as possible; instead of just referring to “the text,” refer to the subsection by heading.
Generally speaking, although not always, the content of original articles and briefs should be broken up into the following sections: introduction, methods, results, and discussion.

3. Abstract

The abstract should not more than 200-250 words and should provide brief details regarding objectives, material, and methods, Results, and Conclusions. Reviews and mini-reviews also require an abstract. The abstract should not be structured, it should be a single paragraph without subheadings. The abstract must be followed by four-six keywords.

4. Introduction

This should be brief and indicates the aim of the study and the essential background information. The introduction should clearly state the hypothesis or purpose statement, how and why the purpose or hypothesis was developed and why the author deems it important.

5. Material and methods

Please provide concise but complete information about the material and the analytical, statistical, and experimental procedures used. This part should be as clear as possible to enable other scientists to repeat the research presented. The use of subheadings to divide the text is encouraged. In the case of animal experiments, authors must give the details of ethical approval.

6. Result and Discussion

Data acquired from the research with the appropriate statistical analysis described in the methods section should be included in this section. In this part, the same data/ information given in a table must not be repeated in a figure or vice versa. Tables and Figures should be self-explanatory and it is not acceptable to repeat extensively the numerals from tables into text and give lengthy and unnecessary explanations of the Tables and Figures. The discussion should relate the results to the current understanding of the scientific problems being investigated in the field.

7. Conclusion

This section should clearly explain the main conclusions of the work highlighting its importance and relevance.

8. References

Number of References (Vancouver referencing style) should not be more than 60 for research article and 70 for review article. References should be numbered consecutively throughout the article, beginning with (1) for the first-cited reference. References should be listed at the end of the paper in the order in which they appear in the text.

References should be cited in the text by numerals in a first bracket. For example;

…… Cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction are targeted in the strategy of cancer therapy (1). Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a multi-step process that is important to eliminate damaged or abnormal cells (2). Chemopreventive agents comprise a diverse group of compounds with different mechanisms of action, but, their ultimate ability to induce apoptosis may represent a unifying concept for the mechanism of chemoprevention (3)……

The authors should ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa).

8.1 Journal article

1. Ramesh CK, Rehman A, Prabhakar BT, Vijay Avin BR, Aditya Rao SJ. Antioxidant potential in sprouts vs. seeds of Vigna radiata and Macrotyloma uniflorum. Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science. 2011; 1(3):99-103.
2. Yartey JE. Malaria in pregnancy: access to effective interventions in Africa. Int. J Gynaecol Obstet. 2006;94(3):364-73

8.2 Reference to a book:

1. Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 4th ed. New York: Longman; 2000.

8.3 Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

1. Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ, editors. Introduction to the electronic age, New York: E-Publishing Inc; 2009, p. 281–304.

8.4 Electronic Material
CD-ROM: Anderson SC, Poulsen KB. Anderson’s electronic atlas of hematology [CD-ROM]. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2002.

  • Journal article on the Internet:
    1. Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12];102(6):[about 1 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld. org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htmArticle
  • Article with document number in place of traditional pagination:
    1. Williams JS, Brown SM, Conlin PR. Videos in clinical medicine. Blood-pressure measurement. N Engl J Med. 2009 Jan 29;360(5):e6.
  • Article with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI):
    1. Zhang M, Holman CD, Price SD, Sanfilippo FM, Preen DB, Bulsara MK. Comorbidity and repeat admission to hospital for adverse drug reactions in older adults: retrospective cohort study. BMJ. 2009 Jan 7;338:a2752. doi: 10.1136/bmj.a2752.
  • Monograph on the Internet:
    1. Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from:http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/.
  • Homepage/Web site:
    1. Cancer-Pain.org [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/

Please visit; http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html for more details about the reference style.

9. Tables & Figures
Tables should be numbered with Arabic numerals. Each table should be typed using a table format (i.e., each variable must be typed into a separate cell in the table) with only horizontal lines above and below the table column headers and at the bottom of the table. No vertical lines should be included in any table. The title should be typed at the top of the table in the sentence case format, i.e., only the first name should be in capital letters; as appropriate. Any footnote should be typed at the bottom of the table in italic.

Figures must be numbered independently of tables, multimedia, and 3D models and cited as the relevant point in the manuscript text, e.g. “Fig. 1”, “Fig. 2”, etc. All figures including photographs should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals in the order of their appearance in the text and bear a brief title in lower case boldface letters below the figure. Do not duplicate data by presenting it both in the text and in a figure. For any figure directly extracted from previously published materials, you must have written permission from the publisher of that figure for reprint use. A copy of that permission release must be submitted with your article.

10.  Abbreviations
Standard abbreviations should be used throughout the manuscript. All nonstandard abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and must be defined in the text following their first use.

Acknowledgements
All acknowledgments should be included at the very end of the paper before the references and may include supporting grants, presentations, and so forth. Contributors who do not qualify as authors should be mentioned under Acknowledgements.

Conflicts of interest

All the authors must disclose the possible conflicts of interest/Competing Interests 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. Authors should also disclose conflicts of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript. The Conflict of Interest statement should list each author separately by name. 

Funding sources 

The authors must declare all sources of funding received for the research submitted to the journal. Authors should give the name of granting agencies and grant numbers, along with a short description of each funder’s role. 

Ethics
Evidence for approval by a local Ethics Committee (for both human as well as animal studies) must be supplied by the authors.
Patient Rights
Because patients have a right to privacy, every research should be done with their informed consent. Unless the material is necessary for scientific research and the patient (or parent or guardian) provides written informed consent for publication, no identifying information should be released in written descriptions, photos, or pedigrees. The article needs to state when informed consent has been acquired. The Helsinki Declaration, first published in 1964 and updated in 2000, sets down the ethical principles that must be followed in research with human people. The institutional human experimentation committee or an equivalent should have given its approval to each trial.
Animal Rights
The ethical guidelines for the handling and use of laboratory animals must be followed during animal experiments. According to the “Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals” and ARRIVE regulations, the publication featured animal studies and required clearance from the relevant Ethical Committee.
Clinical trial registry
The journal suggests that the clinical trials be listed in a database that is available to the general public. On every manuscript that presents the findings from a clinical trial, authors must provide the registration numbers. The minimum set of guidelines for reporting randomised trials as outlined in “The CONSORT (CONsolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) 2010 guideline” must be followed by the authors.

Copyright
The submission of the manuscript represents that the manuscript has not been published previously and is not considered for publication elsewhere. The authors would be required to sign a copyright transfer agreement form once the manuscript is accepted (Copyright Agreement).

Galley Proofs
Unless indicated otherwise, galley proofs are sent to the address given for correspondence. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that the galley proofs are returned without delay.

Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Submission of the Manuscript: