Author Guidelines

Submission Checklist

Before submitting, please ensure that:

• The manuscript follows the journal’s formatting and structure requirements.
• The title page includes all authors, affiliations, contribution details, and corresponding author information.
• The blinded manuscript does not contain author-identifying information.
• An abstract is included where required for the selected article type.
• Figures, tables, and supplementary files are uploaded separately and cited in the manuscript.
• References are formatted consistently and include DOI links where available.
• Ethics approval, consent statements, trial registration, and reporting guideline checklists are included where applicable.
• All authors have reviewed and approved the final submitted version.

Title Page

• Full manuscript title.
• Article type and word count.
• Full names, affiliations, and ORCID IDs of all authors where available.
• Corresponding author name, email address, institutional affiliation, and telephone number.
• Author contribution statement.
• Conflict of interest statement.
• Funding statement.
• Acknowledgments, if applicable.
• Ethics approval and informed consent statements, where applicable.
• Data availability statement, where applicable.

Blinded Manuscript

• Original Articles: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion.
• Case Reports: Background, Case Presentation, Discussion, and Learning Points where appropriate.
• Review Articles: Introduction, Methods or Search Strategy where applicable, main thematic sections, and Conclusion.

References

• References should be numbered sequentially in the order they appear in the text.
• Use square brackets in the manuscript text, for example: [1], [2], [3].
• Include DOI links where available.
• Ensure all references cited in the text appear in the reference list, and all listed references are cited in the text.

Tables and Figures

• Submit tables and figures as separate files where possible.
• Provide clear titles, legends, captions, and abbreviations.
• Cite each table and figure in the main manuscript text.
• Ensure images are of sufficient resolution for online publication.
• Remove patient identifiers from all clinical images unless explicit consent has been obtained.

Supplementary Material

• Supplementary datasets, protocols, appendices, multimedia files, and extended methods may be submitted separately.
• Label supplementary files clearly and refer to them in the manuscript text.
• Large supplementary files should include a brief description or table of contents.

Originality and Plagiarism

• Submitted manuscripts must be original and must not be under consideration by another journal.
• All submissions may be screened for plagiarism, duplication, and inappropriate text reuse.
• Manuscripts with excessive similarity, duplicate publication, or misrepresentation may be rejected or referred for further editorial review.

Research Ethics and Compliance

• Human and animal studies: Manuscripts must include ethics approval from an institutional review board, ethics committee, or equivalent body where required.
• Informed consent: Consent is required for studies involving identifiable human participants, clinical images, or personal medical information.
• Clinical trials: Clinical trials must be registered in a recognized public trial registry.
• Retrospective studies: Authors should state whether ethics approval was obtained or formally waived.

Authorship and Contributions

• All listed authors must meet recognized authorship criteria and approve the submitted manuscript.
• The journal expects authorship to follow ICMJE authorship principles.
• Changes to authorship after submission require explanation, written agreement from affected authors, and editorial approval.
• Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged with permission.

Conflicts of Interest

• Authors must disclose financial, professional, institutional, or personal relationships that could influence the work.
• If there are no conflicts of interest, this should be stated clearly.

Double-Blind Peer Review

• Author and reviewer identities are anonymized during review.
• Manuscripts are assessed for relevance, originality, methodological quality, ethical compliance, and clarity.
• Submissions may be reviewed by at least two independent reviewers when sent for external peer review.
• Editorial decisions may include accept, minor revision, major revision, reject and resubmit, or reject.

Revisions

• Authors invited to revise will receive editorial and reviewer feedback.
• Revisions should include a clean manuscript, a tracked-changes version where requested, and a point-by-point response letter.
• Revision deadlines will be stated in the decision letter. Extensions may be requested when needed.

Appeals

• Authors may appeal editorial decisions by submitting a clear explanation and supporting justification.
• Appeals are reviewed by the editorial team or editorial board, as appropriate.
• Appeals should address specific concerns about process, interpretation, or factual error rather than disagreement alone.

Article Processing Charges

To support open-access publication, an Article Processing Charge may apply after acceptance. The APC supports editorial administration, production, online hosting, article presentation, and long-term dissemination.

• No APC is charged before editorial acceptance.
• Authors are informed of applicable charges before publication.
• Waivers or discounts may be considered for authors from eligible low-income settings or in cases of demonstrated need.

Licensing and Copyright

• Articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution license, unless otherwise stated.
• Authors retain copyright of their work.
• Readers may share and reuse published work in accordance with the article license, provided appropriate credit is given.

Corrections and Retractions

• Authors should notify the editorial office promptly if a significant post-publication error is identified.
• Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions are handled according to recognized publication ethics principles.
• The journal may update the published record where necessary to preserve accuracy and transparency.

Data Availability

• Authors are encouraged to make data, protocols, and analysis materials available in suitable repositories where possible.
• Where data cannot be shared, authors should explain the reason in the data availability statement.

Promoting Your Article

• Share the published article link through institutional, professional, and academic networks.
• Use the official article DOI or journal URL when promoting the work.
• Authors may contact the journal regarding promotion of selected high-impact or practice-changing studies.