Authors' Guideline

Aims and Scope:

The School of Medicine Students’ Journal (SMSJ), is an international, peer-reviewed, and open access scientific journal; it is published by the Vice Chancellor of Research of the School of Medicine in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. The SMSJ is published quarterly and includes original articles, case reports, editorials, short communications, clinical photos, narrative and systematic reviews, that meet the required scientific standards of the journal. We also invite every student in different medical fields to convert their seminars into review articles and submit it to SMSJ.

The scientific topics of interest to the SMSJ include but are not limited to: basic medical sciences, clinical studies (in all medical specialties and sub-specialties), public health, and medical education. The journal welcomes both quantitative and qualitative research papers.

Manuscript Submission:

Manuscripts in English, should be submitted to the Editor’s Office via the journal’s web-based online manuscript submission and peer-review system.

If the instructions are not followed, then the manuscript will be returned to the authors.

Article Charges:

All manuscripts submitted to SMSJ (School of Medicine Students’ Journal) are free of charge. Also, acceptance process for articles is done at zero cost for now.

Open Access Policy:

In accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative's (BOAI) definition of open access, the SMSJ is an open access journal, which conveys that all content is available, free of charge, to users and their institution. Users are permitted to read, download, copy, search, print, distribute or link to the full text of the articles, or use them for any other legal intention, without needing authorization from the author or the publisher.

SMSJ is also licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License: CC BY-NC which means users are free to redistribute and adapt materials. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made; and may not use the material for commercial purposes.

Primitive Screenings:

Members of the Editorial team and our peer-reviewers, will be screening submitted manuscripts for accuracy of study structure and guidelines, compliance with Journal’s scope, innovation, quality of effort and ethical considerations. Our Journal tries to respond as promptly as possible. This process is essential to ensure that the articles have the expected quality.

Peer-Review Process:

Submitted articles are primarily evaluated by the Co-Editor-in-Chief, plagiarism checker, and reference reviewer who check the articles for any methodological flaws, format, and their compliance with the Journal’s instructions. Through an open review, the articles will be reviewed by at least two external (peer) reviewers. Their comments will be passed to the authors and their responses to the comments along with the reviewers’ comments will then be evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief, and Co-Editor-in-Chief and a final reviewer who can be a member of the Editorial Board. The final review process will be discussed in regular editorial board sessions and on the basis of the comments, and the Journal’s standards, the Editor-in-Chief will decide which articles should be published.

It should be noted that articles submitted by the staff and editors of the SMSJ will also be subjected to peer review.

Ethical considerations:

The SMSJ follows the Core Practices and flowcharts regulated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), to handle potential misconduct.

1. Authorship and Contributorship: Authorship policies are elaborated, concerning conditions for eligibility.

Authors should have the following criteria as stated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE):

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• 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.

Anyone assigned as author, should possess all of what has been mentioned above, the four criteria, at the same time.

Any contributor who does not happen to possess the criteria for authorship, should be mentioned in Acknowledgments section with their permission. In Acknowledgement section, any financial support, scientific or technical assistance, gifts, etc., should be acknowledged.

2. Complaints and Appeals: The journal follows COPE flowcharts and guidelines for dealing with complaints against the journal, its staff, editorial board or publisher.

Our journal attempts to respond to complaints as quickly as it can. In case of displeasure, the Editor-in-Chief will be responsible for correspondence via email.

3. Conflicts of interest / Competing interests: The journal manages conflicts of interest of authors, reviewers, editors, journals and publishers, whether identified before or after publication. We encourage authors to let us know if any forms of conflict of interest exists (financial, academic, personal, etc.) to minimize the risk of bias in the process.

It is recommended that authors fill out the following form:

ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

4. Data and reproducibility: If you are considering submitting a clinical trial study as an author, you are required to register it. Also use of guidelines for reporting is mandatory.
5. Data Fabrication/ data Falsification:

   Data Fabrication refers to inventing data and reporting them in the research.

   Data Falsification is the inappropriate manipulation of original data with the purpose to make it misleading, so that the research findings are not correctly represented.

   This type of misconduct is strictly forbidden.

   We encourage researchers intending to submit their RCTs to SMSJ, to have their data prepared. The journal reserves the right to ask for original findings at any time.

   The SMSJ follows COPE’s flowcharts to manage potential misconduct.

   • • Suspected fabricated data in a submitted manuscript
     • Suspected fabricated data in a published manuscript
6. Image Manipulation:

   Modification applied to images may be deluding, particularly in scientific data and for researches. Nonetheless, it may be valid if applied with regard to terms mentioned in the following. Authors are required to mention where changes to images have been made. The Journal asks the authors for original images to identify any inappropriate manipulation.

   • • Specific properties within an image may not be intensified, disguised, eliminated, introduced, or moved.
     • Adjustments to contrast or brightness are admissible if applied to the image equally and entirely. In addition, adjustments should not manipulate the features within the image in a way that it becomes misleading compared to the original one.

   The SMSJ follows COPE’s guidelines and flowcharts in case of suspected Image Manipulations.

7. Copyright:  If your manuscript includes some form of formerly published content or image, as an author you are accountable for providing the journal with attained permission from copyright holders. It is mandatory to provide the original permission in written form for any copyrighted part.

Ethical oversight

• Informed consent: All participants and patients participating in a study should be apprised fully about the potential effects or side effects of the drugs or substances used and interventions practiced. Informed consent should be in written form, taken from participants or their legal guardians. In addition, the informed consent statements should be discussed in more detail in “Methods & Materials” section. The journal may require the documentaries if necessary.
• Human & Animal Rights Statement: Anytime working with human subjects, or data or material relating to human beings, the Declaration of Helsinki should be taken into account and the projects should receive approval from a review body; such as institutional review board or ethics committee and a statement that the study was approved by the local ethical committee must be included.

If the research is being done on animals, researchers should consider Animal ethics and welfare guidelines. Authors are required to mention if their work was in accordance to standards for use of and working with laboratory animals.

6. Intellectual property:

   • Copyright notice: Authors who publish with SMSJ agree to the following terms:
     1.  Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License, that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
     2.  Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
     3.  Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) after the submission is accepted, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and more citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
   • Plagiarism: The journal handles plagiarism according to COPE guidelines and flowcharts. Authors must pay attention to not include the exact same content in their manuscript from formerly published manuscripts or papers, unless it is quoted using quotation marks besides referencing. To investigate potential plagiarism, we use plagiarism checker software. If any plagiarism is found, authors will be requested to restate that part in their own words.

     Journal management:

     The SMSJ relies on Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences for financial support, however, this journal has editorial freedom and independency, and the manuscripts are judged based on quality, accuracy, and consistency with journal’s scope.

     Our journal adheres to principles of Relationship Between Journal Editors-in-Chief and Owners, delineated by the  World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

     Peer review process:

     The journal manages possible complaints and conflicts of interest to peer review process regarding COPE guidelines and flowcharts.

     Post-publication discussions and corrections:

     The journal reserves the right to publish corrections to the former version of the manuscript, revise it, or retract the article even after publication. Post- publication discussion may be executed through Letter to Editor.

     Retraction Policy:

     Our journal takes measures in accordance to COPE flowcharts in case of encountering an article that needs to be retracted. 

     Manuscript Style

     Submitted manuscript files should have the following properties:

     • File format: Manuscript files can be in the following formats: DOC or DOCX or RTF. Microsoft Word documents should not be locked or protected.
     • Font: Use any standard font and a standard font size.
     • Layout: Use prepared templates available in Files for Submission
     • Footnotes: Footnotes are not permitted. If your manuscript contains footnotes, move the information into the main text or the reference list, depending on the content.
     • Abbreviations: Define abbreviations upon first appearance in the text. It is recommended to keep abbreviations to a minimum.

     If the article is not compatible with journal’s style, the SMSJ reserves the right to make modifications and yet authors are responsible for the published content.

     Manuscript Organization: Manuscripts should be organized as follows.

     1. Cover Letter
     2. Title Page
     3. Abstract
     4. Keywords
     5. Main text
     6. Acknowledgement
     7. Conflicts of interest
     8. References
     9. Tables
     10. Illustrations

      

     1. Cover Letter: Your cover letter should include the justification for carrying out such research and also the reason for choosing the SMSJ. In addition, authors should confirm that their manuscript will not be submitted to any other journal until the end of reviewing process. Finally, it should be mentioned if authors have submitted or published other papers using the current research.
     2. Title Page: This part should be uploaded as a separate file, in a from provided in Forms section of the journal’s website. List title, authors, and affiliations. A running title should also be provided, which is the abbreviated form of the main title, displayed at the top of published pages. The running title should be concised and straight forward to the gist of article. Abbreviations are acceptable in the running title and the total length should not exceed 60 characters including spaces and hyphens. Besides, please include the full address, postal code and contact information of the corresponding author in the title page. Title Page will not be numbered.
     3. Abstract: An abstract, preferably no longer than 300 words, should be provided. This will be your first numbered page. It is better not to use abbreviations in your abstract. The abstract of original articles, systematic reviews and clinical trial papers must be structured by the following sub-headings:
        
        
     • Original Researches, systematic reviews and clinical trials: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusion.
     • Review articles must include an unstructured abstract and should contain the prominent aspects of the article succinctly.
     • Case reports and brief reports should contain unstructured type of abstract.
     4. Keywords: A list of 3−6 key words is to be provided directly below the abstract. The keywords should be preferably chosen from the Medical Subject Headings (MESH).
     5. Main text:
        The main text of your manuscript should be subdivided to certain sections according to the type of your article.
        
        
     • Introduction: In this section a summary of previous researches and potential shortcomings and gaps in the filed should be provided and the aim of the current study should be expressed.
     • Methods & Materials: This section may be divided into subsections to describe the procedures elaborately. Measures taken to gather research data must be specified. Please pay attention to include details, such as inclusion and exclusion criteria, controls, etc. It is favored to avoid repetition of details in standard practices and methods. Please pay attention to provide only the information which was accessible at the time that study protocol/plan was composed. Please describe the methods used in statistical analyses and mention the software used.

     Please refer to the CONSORT statement for randomized controlled trials reports.

     You may get help from PRISMA ,STROBE, and STARD as reporting guidelines to better provide the information needed and enhance your quality of work. In addition, EQUATOR Network is helpful when using these guidelines.

     • Results: Results should be portrayed in sequential order of time in the text, figures and tables, and arranged regarding their significance. Results should contain the findings of your own study.

      

     • Discussion: This section challenges the new discoveries of your research with findings of other studies by stating arguments and comebacks. This section should give prominence to significant and novel points of your research. Any limitation in the course of study and directions for the future are to be expressed.

      

     • Conclusion: In this section the ultimate result and suggestions are expressed that the researchers have achieved. Only the findings of your own research can be indicated and stating the outcomes of other researches should be avoided.
     1. Acknowledgements: In this section any financial support, scientific or technical assistance, gifts, etc... should be acknowledged.
     2. Conflict of interest: Any information regarding the potential conflict of interests related to various aspects such as financial support by commercial firms, etc… should be disclosed in this section.
     3. References: References should be limited to the most relevant. Authors are responsible for the accurate citation of references. References are to be cited consecutively in the text in brackets. If a reference is repeated, the original number should be used. At the end of the manuscript, references should be listed, on a separate page, in the numerical order in which they are first cited in the text. The form should conform to the Vancouver style. Use of a bibliography software like Endnote is highly recommended. The EndNote Style file (Vancouver-SMSJournal.ens), based on the "Vancouver referencing style" and compatibilized with the policies of SMSJ, could be downloaded and used by clicking on the name of the file, above.
        
        

     Please refer to table shown below for recommended reference counts corresponding to each article type:

     Original articles	15-40 references
     Case reports	5-10 references
     Narrative review	Minimum of 60 references
     Systematic review	Up to 40 references
     Brief report	10-15 references
     Visual practice	Up to 5 references
     Letter to editor	Up to 5 references

      

     1. Tables: Tables should be numbered and referred to by number in the text. Each table should be typed on a separate page and should have a descriptive title. Tables should not be the duplication of content of the text.
     2. Illustrations Captions: Illustrations should be informative. Illustrations (photographs, drawings, diagrams, and charts) are to be numbered in one consecutive series, and referred to by Arabic numerals in the text. The list of captions for illustrations should be typed on a separate page. The illustrations themselves should be uploaded as JPG or TIF files during the submission. All illustrations should be prepared in 300-600 DPI. If your content involves clinical images, such as diagnostic photos, pathology specimens or radiographic scans and films, uploading high resolution images is highly recommended. Setting of the images such as the original scale and staining technique should be mentioned.
     • There are no restrictions on number of figures, or amount of supporting information. We encourage you to present and discuss your findings concisely.

      

     Essentials of Article types:

     Besides having the sections mentioned above, the main text should contain the following sections regarding article’s type.

     • Original articles: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, conclusion.
     • Case reports: Background, case report, discussion, conclusion
     • Narrative and Systematic Reviews: There are no restrictions on heading and subheading for narrative review articles. We encourage you to present your review concisely.
     • Brief reports: introduction, methods and materials, results, discussion, conclusion
     • Clinical trials: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, conclusion. In addition, you should include CONSORT flow diagram as a figure.
     • Letter to editor: Salutation, opening statement (specifies what paper you are referring to), opinion, evidence-supported arguments, conclusion, personal information (name, affiliation, etc.)
     • Editorials: (no abstract) Introduction, argument, evidence, counterargument, refutation, conclusion
     • Short communication: abstract (100 words), Introduction, Methods & Materials, Results, Discussion (without headings and all in one section)
     • Visual practice: Visual practice consists of up to 2 photos and 1 video in high resolution and with their explanations. They should indicate an important medical idea.

      

     Length: The length of the text should not exceed the following counts: excluding the abstract, tables and figure captions, and references.

     Original articles	4000 words
     Case reports	2000 words
     Editorials	1200 words
     Short communication	1500 words
     Regular or systematic reviews	5000 words
     Brief report	2000 words
     Visual practice	300 words
     Letter to editor	750 words
     Clinical trials	4000 words

      

     Language:

     Articles must be submitted in English, either British or American. Getting help from an expert is recommended to non-native English speakers.