Studies in Medical Sciences

Aims and Scope of the Journal

The “Studies in Medical Sciences” is the official scientific monthly and peer-reviewed publication of Urmia University of Medical Sciences. The journal aims to motivate and enhance the medical research and help to develop medical information management. It serves medical researchers, educators and practitioners who are interested in theoretical or applied aspects of medicine. “Studies in Medical Sciences” accepts Original Papers, Review Articles, Short Communications, Letters to the Editor, and Case Reports in a broad range of areas including basic science and medicine.

Article category

Articles will be published in Studies in Medical Sciences  under four categories: Research article; Review article; Short communication; Case report

Submission of manuscripts

1. Always submit three copies of the article and two sets of photographs, illustration, diagrams etc. Manuscript should be typed in double space on one side of the A-4 size paper with clear margins on both sides. Tables as well as illustrations should be typed and drawn on a separate paper. Do not submit tables as photographs.
2. Manuscripts are received with the explicit understanding that they have not previously been published elsewhere or are they under simultaneous consideration by any other publisher. In case the manuscript was earlier submitted to some other Journal and was rejected, the authors must provide full information for proper analysis. Papers submitted for publication should describe original work, not previously published elsewhere, totally or partly.
3. Manuscripts must be submitted only in Persian with English abstracts and should be written according to sound grammar and proper terminology.
4. In case of electronic submission of the manuscript the authors must declare that it is being exclusively contributed to Studies in Medical Sciences. The text should be submitted in Microsoft Word format as an attachment. The figures should be sent in a format of JPEG or GIF which will produce high quality images in the online edition of the journal. Submit manuscripts to Journal URL: http://umj.umsu.ac.ir or send to umjumsu.ac.ir, umjumj56gmail.com
5. Manuscripts must be accompanied by a covering letter to the Editor-in-Chief, including Title page; the Abstract; Introduction; Materials & Methods; Results; Conclusion; Acknowledgement and References undertaking that it has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
6. Peer review process: All manuscripts are considered to be confidential. They are peer-reviewed by at least 3 anonymous reviewers selected by the Editorial Board. The corresponding author is notified as soon as possible of the editor decision to accept, reject, or require modifications. On receipt of the revised article from the author, and after final approving by referees, the letter of acceptance is issued to the author. If the manuscript is completely acceptable according to the criteria set forth in these instructions, it is scheduled for the next available issue. The corresponding author will be supplied with free issues plus one for each author.
7. Copyright: The entire contents of Studies in Medical Sciences are protected under international copyrights. This Journal is for your personal noncommercial use. You may not modify copy, distribute, transmit, display, or publish any materials contained on the Journal without the written permission of the Editor.
8. Page charges: There are no charges for publication in this Journal.
9. Authors are responsible for contents of their articles and the intellectual property of articles is reserved for authors.
10. Proof Reading: A computer printout is sent to the corresponding author for proof reading before publication in order to avoid any mistakes. Corrections should be marked clearly and sent immediately to the Journal office.
11. Disposal of material: Once published, all copies of the manuscript, correspondence and artwork will be held for 6 months before disposal.
12. The Editorial Board of the Journal, reserves the right to accept or reject the article in any stage and any time or delete a part of the text, tables or figures, if necessary.

Manuscripts can also be submitted online at http://umj.umsu.ac.ir  

Preparation of Manuscripts

1. The title page: It should only contain the title, be in bold print, brief and to the point, the name of all the authors with their highest academic degrees (written in MD, PhD, BS, MS forms), the department or institution to which they are attached, address for correspondence with telephone numbers, e-mail, and Fax number.

2. The abstract: All original articles must accompany a structured abstract up to 250 words. It should be structured as Background & Aims, Materials & Methods, Results and Conclusion followed by 3 to 5 Keywords. Keywords will assist indexers in cross indexing the article as they are published with abstract. Use terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of index medicus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html). Abstracts of case report should consist of less than 125 words. There should be an English copy of the abstract. Farsi and English abstracts should be in semantic equivalence. Authors need to be careful that the abstract reflects the content of the article accurately.

3. Introduction should indicate research objectives and relevant literature

4. Materials & methods: should refer to the research methodology, subjects, their selection and control, age, gender and other relevant characteristics, lab materials and tools, statistical analysis, and any general computer program used. If a drug is used, its generic name, dose and route of administration must be given. The Info system used should be clearly mentioned.

5. Ethical guidelines: Ethical considerations must be addressed in the Materials & Methods section. 1) Please state that informed consent was obtained from patients participating in the study and from the parents or legal guardians of minors. Include the name of the appropriate institutional review board that approved the project. 2) Ethical policy forbids any patient names to be published. If a patient image is printed, the eyes should be hidden and the relevant informed consent taken. In case of animal subjects and pets, the relevant principles should be complied.

Declaration of Helsinki on Human subjects should be taken into account.3)The sole responsibility for the whole contents of the paper (views and statements) remains only to the author(s).

6. Conflicts of interest: Conflict of interests should be considered so that authors disclose any commercial or other associations that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted manuscripts. All funding sources supporting the research should be acknowledged as well. Declaring a competing interest will not lead to automatic rejection of the paper, but we would like to be made aware of it.

7. Results: It must be presented in the form of text, tables and illustrations. The contents of the tables should not be all repeated in the text. Instead, a reference to the table number may be given. Long articles may need sub-headings within some sections (especially the Results and Discussion parts) to clarify their contents.

8. Tables: In limited numbers should be submitted with the captions placed above. Do not submit tables as photograph. Place explanatory matters in footnotes, not in the heading.

9. Figures: Should be in limited numbers, with high quality art work and mounted on separate pages. The captions should be placed below. The same data should not be presented in tables, figures and text, simultaneously.

10. Conclusion: This should emphasize the present findings and the variations or similarities with other work done in the field by other workers. The detailed data should not be repeated in the discussion again. Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. It must be mentioned whether the hypothesis mentioned in the article is true, false or no conclusions can be derived.

11. Acknowledgement: All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be covered in the acknowledgement section. It should include persons who provided technical help, writing assistance and departmental head who only provided general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.

12. References: All manuscripts should be accompanied by relevant references. Identify references in the text by Farsi numerals in parentheses on the line. References should be written according to their sequence numbered in the text. They should be typed based on Vancouver style. It may not be possible for the editor and reviewers to check the accuracy of all reference citations. To minimize such errors author should verify references against the original documents. Abbreviations of journals should conform to those used in Vancouver style. The Reference should provide the following information as stated in the presented models as follows:

I. Periodicals: List all authors if six or fewer; otherwise, list first six and add ‘et al'. Do not use periods after the authors initials:

a. Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B, Parkin DM, Clayton D, Black RI et al. Childhood of Leukemia in Europe. Br J Cancer 1996; 73: 1006-12.

b. Ozben T, Nacitarhan S, Tuncer N. Plasma and urine sialic acid in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Ann Clin Biochem 1995; 32 (pt 3): 303-6.

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

d. Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infections disease. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 Jan-Mar [cited 1995 Jun 5]; 1(1): [24 screens]. Available from URL: Http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm

 II. Books:

a. Ringsren MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd Ed. Albany (NY) Delmar Publishers; 1996.

b. Wall PD, Melzack RA. Text book of pain. 3rd ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 1994.

III. Chapter in book:

a. Philips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, Editors. Hypertensions: Pathophysiology, diagnosis and management. 2^nd Ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. P.465-78.

13. Abbreviations and symbols: Use only standard abbre­viations. Avoid using them in the title and abstract. The full term for which an abbre­viation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a stan­dard unit of measurement.