Author Guidelines

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission’s compliance with all of the following items. Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines may be returned to the authors.

• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).


• The submission file is in Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or RTF format.


• The manuscript follows the structure and word limits described in the Author Guidelines, including a structured abstract and keywords selected from Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).


• The text is single-spaced, uses a 12-point font, and employs italics rather than underlining (except with URL addresses). Tables and figures are placed within the text at the appropriate points, and figures are also uploaded as separate high-resolution files.


• References follow the Vancouver style and are numbered in order of citation. Where available, DOIs or URLs (and PubMed IDs) for the references have been provided.


• For studies involving human participants, the manuscript includes a statement of ethical approval (with the approval code) and informed consent. Clinical trials include a registration number.


• The manuscript includes the Declarations section: conflict of interest, funding, author contributions, data availability, and (if applicable) the use of AI tools.


• The relevant reporting guideline checklist (e.g., CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA) has been followed and, where applicable, uploaded.


• All authors have been listed with their affiliations, e-mail addresses, and ORCID iDs, and all authors meet the authorship criteria of the ICMJE.


• The manuscript has been checked for plagiarism and is the authors’ original work.


• The authors agree that the article will be published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) and that they retain the copyright.

Author Guidelines

Use the following guidelines for preparing the manuscript. The journal follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Article Types and Word Limits

• Original Article: up to 5,000 words (excluding abstract, references, tables, and figure captions), with a structured abstract of up to 250 words.


• Review Article (narrative, systematic review, or meta-analysis): up to 6,000 words, with a structured abstract of up to 250 words.


• Brief Report: up to 2,500 words, with an abstract of up to 150 words.


• Letter to the Editor: up to 800 words, without an abstract.

Submission Process

Manuscripts must be submitted online through the journal’s website (Open Journal Systems). Authors must register, upload the manuscript file, and complete the submission metadata (authors, affiliations, ORCID iDs, abstract, and keywords). A cover letter and the Author Agreement Form should be uploaded as supplementary files. Submissions by e-mail are not considered. The journal has no submission or publication fees.

Structure

The correct order of the elements within a standard IJABS original article is as follows:

• Title page


• Abstract


• Keywords


• Introduction


• Methods


• Results


• Discussion


• Conclusions


• Acknowledgments


• Declarations (ethical approval and consent, conflict of interest, funding, author contributions, data availability, use of AI tools)


• References


• Tables


• Figure captions

Title

The title must be as accurate, informative, simple, and complete as possible. Avoid titles that are too long, and avoid abbreviations and Roman numerals.

Title Page

• Give the article an informative title that includes the study design (also include details relevant to the study’s generalizability, e.g., setting or population characteristics).


• List all authors with their highest degree(s), institutional affiliation (department, institution, city, country), and ORCID iD. Indicate the corresponding author and provide his or her e-mail address.


• For individuals whose assistance is acknowledged, list highest degree(s) as applicable and institutional affiliation (including the funding source for acknowledged assistance), and any relevant financial disclosure.


• Describe the financial support received for the study, and include grant numbers as applicable.


• Indicate any previous presentation of the data, including meeting date(s) and location.


• Provide the word count of the abstract and of the main text (excluding references), and the ethics committee approval code.

Abstract

Provide a structured abstract of no more than 250 words (Background/Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusions), using the following requirements:

• For clinical trials, include the trial registry, URL, and registration number at the end of the abstract.


• Specify the diagnostic criteria used (for example, DSM-5-TR or ICD-11), if applicable.


• Specify the primary outcome measure of the study.


• For original research, give the range of dates in which the study was conducted (month/year to month/year).


• State the significance level (confidence intervals, P values, or other relevant measure) of statistically significant results.


• Ensure that the data in the abstract match the data in the article text and tables.

Keywords

Provide 3 to 6 keywords selected from the list of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). If a particular keyword is not available in MeSH, you may use the new words. The MeSH vocabulary can be accessed at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh

Text

For experimental studies with human subjects, include a statement that the subjects gave informed consent to participate, and state whether institutional review board approval was obtained; if not, please explain.

Introduction. The Introduction should be written in a way that is accessible to researchers without special knowledge of the area, and it must clearly state (and, if helpful, illustrate) the background to the research and its aims. Reports of clinical research should, where appropriate, include a summary of a search of the literature to indicate why the study was necessary and what it aimed to contribute to the field. The section should end with a brief statement of what is being reported in the article.

Methods. The Methods section should include the design of the study, setting, type of participants or materials involved, a clear description of all interventions and comparisons, and the type of analysis used, including a power calculation if appropriate. Generic drug names should generally be used; when proprietary brands are used in research, include the brand names in parentheses. For studies involving human participants, a statement detailing ethical approval (including the approval code) and informed consent should be included. Authors should follow the relevant reporting guideline (e.g., CONSORT for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews, COREQ or SRQR for qualitative studies) and cite it in the Methods.

Results. The Results and Discussion may be combined into a single section or presented separately. Results of statistical analysis should include, where appropriate, relative and absolute risks or risk reductions, and confidence intervals. The Results and Discussion sections may also be broken into subsections with short, informative headings.

Discussion. Summarize the main findings, compare them with previous studies, and discuss the strengths and limitations of the study and its implications for practice and future research.

Conclusions. The Conclusions section should state clearly the main conclusions of the research and give a clear explanation of their importance and relevance. Conclusions must be supported by the data. Summary illustrations may be included.

Declarations

• Ethical approval and consent: state the name of the approving committee and the approval code, and confirm that informed consent was obtained. Studies must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki.


• Conflict of interest: all authors must declare any financial or non-financial interests relevant to the work; if there are none, state “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”


• Funding: describe all sources of financial support, or state that none was received.


• Author contributions: describe the contribution of each author. Authorship must satisfy the ICMJE criteria.


• Data availability: state whether the data are available and where, or explain why they cannot be shared.


• Use of artificial intelligence: AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Any use of AI tools in preparing the manuscript must be disclosed in the Methods or Acknowledgments, and the authors remain fully responsible for the content.

References

Cite references using the Vancouver format (ICMJE/NLM style), numbered sequentially in the text. References must be listed in the order in which they are cited and numbered accordingly. The first reference cited is numbered (1), the second reference is numbered (2), and so on. Reference-manager field codes must be converted to plain text before submission. Provide the DOI and, where available, the PubMed ID of each reference. List up to six authors and add “et al.” for additional authors; abbreviate journal titles according to the NLM Catalog.

Example: Smith J, Rezaei A. Effects of cognitive behavioral therapy on adolescent anxiety. Int J Appl Behav Sci. 2026;3(1):10-18. doi:10.0000/ijabs.2026.001

Figure Captions

A figure’s legend and caption ought to be in sufficient detail to allow the reader to understand the content of the figure. Supply captions separately, under the figure and not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Figures should be supplied as separate files in JPEG, PNG, or TIFF format with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

Tables

Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body. Submit tables in Word format. All files will be converted to PDF for review purposes.

Peer Review and Publication Ethics

All submissions are first screened by the editorial office for scope, completeness, and similarity with previously published work (plagiarism check). Manuscripts that pass the screening are sent to at least two independent expert reviewers using a double-blind process, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from each other. The editor-in-chief makes the final decision based on the reviewers’ reports. Reviewers and editors must declare any conflict of interest and keep manuscripts confidential.

The journal follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the recommendations of the ICMJE. Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate submission, and undisclosed conflicts of interest are considered misconduct. Corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern are published according to COPE standards. Authors may post preprints, provided that this is disclosed at submission.

For questions, contact the editorial office at: ijabs@sbmu.ac.ir