Guidelines for Authors

Manuscripts will be carefully scrutinized for evidence of plagiarism, duplication and data manipulation; in particular, images will be carefully examined for any indication of intentional improper modification.

Any suspected misconduct ends up with a quick rejection and is then reported to the US Office of Research Integrity.

Ensure that your work is written in correct English before submission. Professional copyediting can help authors improve the presentation of their work and increase its chances of being taken on by a publisher.

The Corresponding Author must submit the manuscript online-only through our Manuscript Submission System.

Manuscript preparation

Please ensure that all intext citations and references are in AMA formatting.
Include line numbers for manuscript files.
Please include all Tables and Figures at the end of the manuscript file. Do not submit separate individual table and figure files.

Title Page (first and second pages of manuscript file). REQUIRED for all submissions.

The first page must contain:

• title (lowercase), without acronyms;
• first name and family name of each author, separated by commas;
• affiliation(s) of each author (in English);
• acknowledgments;
• full name, phone number, and e-mail address for the correspondence should also be included;
• three to five key words.

The second page should contain:

• authors’ contributions, e.g., information about the contributions of each person named as having participated in the study (http://www.icmje.org/#author);
• disclosures about potential conflict of interests;
• further information (e.g., funding, conference presentation …).

For all Clinical Studies including case reports, case series and Trials, the following is highly recommended prior to submission:

1. Preop and Postop imaging, X-rays, CT, MRI that support your findings Validated Patient Reported Outcome Measures
2. Statistics Explanations and Power Analysis

Tables and Figures

• If tables are used, they should be presented each on a separate page at the end of the manuscript after the references. They must be numbered in the order they are cited in the text of the manuscript; each must be cited in the main text.
• If figures are used, they must be submitted as .tiff or .jpg files, with the following digital resolution:
• color (saved as CMYK): minimum 300 dpi;
• black and white/grays: minimum 600 dpi;
• one column width (8.5 cm) or 2 column widths (17.5 cm).
• A different caption for each figure must be provided at the end of the manuscript, not included in the figure file.
• Authors must obtain written permission for the reproduction and adaptation of material which has already been published. A copy of the written permission has to be provided before publication (otherwise the paper cannot be published) and appropriately cited in the figure caption. The procedure for requesting the permission is the responsibility of the Authors; Open Medical Publishing will not refund any costs incurred in obtaining permission. Alternatively, it is advisable to use materials from other (free) sources.

Other

• If abbreviations are used in the text, authors are required to write full name+abbreviation in parenthesis (parenthesis) the first time they are used, then only abbreviations can be written.
• If names of equipment or substances are mentioned in the text, the brand, company names and locations (city and state) for equipment and substances should be included in parentheses within the text.

Ethical considerations

JPHIA requires the following two components related to ethical conduct of research:

Ethical Considerations section in main text. An Ethical Considerations sub-section is REQUIRED in the Methods section for all studies involving human or animal subjects. Authors must include the following

• name of Institutional Review Board or ethics committee or institution that reviewed the study,
• study approval number (or statement that a waiver was granted),
• manner (oral, written) in which consent was obtained from participants, and
• methods used to protect data and confidentiality of participants.
• For Original articles and case reports that did not require ethical review or approval, authors must provide a justification or statement in the Ethical Considerations section.

Clearance documentation. For studies that involve human or animal subjects, authors must upload a copy of the approval letter, certificate or waiver from their IRB or ethics committee as a supplementary file

Journal Sections
The manuscript file for all article types must contain the following required elements: a title page, abstract, main text, references, acknowledgements, tables and figures, in that order. Manuscript files must be 1.5 or 2.0 spaced.

Do not format the text of the abstract, main text and references in multiple columns.

Do not submit required elements as separate files.

Formatting

Manuscripts must be fomatted according to the instructions below.

Original Articles: Clinical Research, Meta-Analysis
Original articles are full reports of results from original research. They provide an overview of innovative research in a particular field with or related to the focus and scope of the journal.
Abstract: Maximum 250 words. Must be structured using the headings: Background, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusion.
Main text: Maximum 4500 words. Must be stuctured using the headings below.
First-level headings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion. NOTE: The Results and Discussion sections must be presented as separate sections; do not submit manuscripts with the Results and Discussion combined into a single section.
Second-level headings:
The Materials and Methods section must contain an Ethical Considerations section presented as its first sub-section. See Ethical Considerations section above for detailed requirements.
The Discussion must include a Limitations section presented as its last section
References: Approximately 30.
Tables/Figures: Maximum 5 total.

Reviews: Systematic Reviews and Evidence Based Reviews
Review articles provide an in-depth exploration of recent developments in any field related to public health. All funding, writing assistance, and/or other relationships to possibly conflicted sources must be fully disclosed at the time of submission.

Systematic reviews:
Abstract: Maximum 250 words. Must be structured using the headings Introduction, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusion.
Main text: Maximum 5000 words. Must be structured using the headings: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion. The Methods section must clearly describe the search strategy (keywords, inclusion/exclusion criteria, search engines used, etc.)

Narrative reviews:
Abstract: Maximum 250 words. May be unstructured.
Main text: Maximum 5000 words. Required headings:
Introduction. Provide background to put the report in context and define the aim of the study.
Methods. Briefly (about 1 paragraph) discuss the search terms and documents used for the review.
Topical headings. Other headings as determined by the authors should be used to desginate major topics and serve as a guide for readers.
References: Minimum 40.
Tables/Figures: Maximum 5 total.

Case Reports
Case Reports describe observations on clinical cases that can be educational, including adverse effects of drugs or outcomes of a specific treatment.
Abstract: Maximum 150 words. Must be structured using the headings: Introduction, Case Presentation, Management and Outcomes, Conclusion.
Main text: Maximum 2000 words. Must be structured using the headings below
First-level headings: Introduction, Case Presentation, Management and Outcomes, Conclusion.
Second-level headings: The Case Presentation section must contain an Ethical Considerations section presented as its first sub-section. See ‘Permission to publish’ below and Ethical Considerations section above for detailed requirements.
References: approximately 20.
Tables/Figures: Maximum 3 total.
Permission to publish: Must have been obtained from patients, parents or guardians (for children), and/or next of kin (for deceased patients). This must be stated in the Ethical Considerations section. Authors must upload a copy of the signed permission form as a supplementary file.

Letters to the Editor & Commentary
Letters to the Editor are short essays that express the authors’ viewpoint, may respond to published manuscripts in our journals, or deliver information or news regarding an issue related to the Journal scope. If the letter relates to a published manuscript, the authors of the original manuscript will be given the opportunity to provide a response. Authors of Letters to the Editor should provide a short title.
Abstract: None. Letters do not have abstracts
Main text: Maximum 1500 words. Topical headings are not generally expected, but may be included if helpful for readers.
References: Approximately 20.
Tables/Figures: Maximum 1 total

Infographics
Informational diagramatic representation of previously published manuscripts which highlight the methods, results, and signficance of key pieces of literature.
Abstract: N/A
Main text: Maximum 250 words.
References: Approximately 1.

References

References should be prepared strictly according to the AMA style. References must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first cited in the text (not alphabetical order), and they must be identified in the text by Arabic numerals in superscript. References in the main text must always be cited after dots and commas. Where available, URLs for the references should be provided directly within references section.

Peer Review Process

Our journal follows the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA)

The Editorial Board of the journal will immediately screen all articles submitted for publication in that journal. Those articles which fail to reach the scientific standards of the journal may be declined without further review. Those articles which satisfy the requirements of the Editorial Board will be sent to a maximum of three referees. These are experts in the field who have agreed to provide a rapid assessment of the article. Every effort will be made to provide an editorial decision as to acceptance for publication within 4-6 weeks of submission. Referees may request a revision of the article to be made. In this case, it is generally understood that only one revised version can be considered for a further appraisal under the peer-review system. The Editorial Board of the journal is responsible for the final selection of referees to conduct the peer-review process for that journal.

The names of referees will not be made available to authors. However, referees will be informed as to the identity of the authors whose articles are subject to review.

All members of the Editorial Board and referees are asked to declare any competing interests they may have in reviewing a manuscript. If on receiving the editorial decision concerning their manuscript authors are not satisfied they are invited to appeal to the Editorial Office. In cases in which this is considered appropriate a second opinion on the manuscript will be requested.

Publication Frequency

All papers are published as soon as they have been accepted, by adding them to the “current” volume’s Table of Contents.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Publication Ethics

Editorship

PAGEPress strongly support the mission of the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors; all individuals collaborating with PAGEPress are strongly invited to comply with this mission.

Ethics

All research articles published by Open Medical Publishing journals are subject to a rigorous ethical standards. Our journals endorses the Code of Conduct of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), as well as the COPE International Standards for Editors and Authors Guidelines. The Editorial Board of each journal is responsible for the form the peer review process will take; therefore, all authors in the biomedical field must adhere to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. Open Medical Publishing endorses the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) Policy Statement on Geopolitical Intrusion on Editorial Decisions, too.

Plagiarism

The Editorial Board of our journals will immediately screen all articles submitted for publication in that journal. All submissions we receive are checked for plagiarism by using online available tools as iThenticate®. Any suspected misconduct ends up with a quick rejection and is then reported to the European Network of Research Integrity Offices and to the US Office of Research Integrity. The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA) released a European Code of Conduct on Research Integrity, which is fully supported by our journals. All authors submitting papers to our journals are required to adopt these policies.

Below are online resources to help you in the understanding of plagiarism:

Roig, M. Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide to ethical writing. St Johns University.
Long TC, Errami M, George AC, et al. Responding to Possible Plagiarism. Science 2009; 323:1293-1294.

Lewis J, Ossowski S, Hicks J, Errami M, and Garner HR. Text similarity: an alternative way to search MEDLINE. Bioinformatics 2006; 22:2298-2304.

Conflict of Interests

Conflict of interest exists when an author (or the author’s institution), reviewer, or editor has financial or personal relationships that inappropriately influence (bias) his or her actions (such relationships are also known as dual commitments, competing interests, or competing loyalties). These relationships vary from negligible to great potential for influencing judgment. Not all relationships represent true conflict of interest. On the other hand, the potential for conflict of interest can exist regardless of whether an individual believes that the relationship affects his or her scientific judgment. Financial relationships (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, and paid expert testimony) are the most easily identifiable conflicts of interest and the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, and of science itself. However, conflicts can occur for other reasons, such as personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion.

All participants in the peer-review and publication process must disclose all relationships that could be viewed as potential conflicts of interest. Disclosure of such relationships is also important in connection with editorials and review articles, because it can be more difficult to detect bias in these types of publications than in reports of original research. Editors may use information disclosed in conflict-of-interest and financial-interest statements as a basis for editorial decisions.

When authors submit a manuscript, whether an article or a letter, they are responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationships that might bias their work. To prevent ambiguity, authors must state explicitly whether potential conflicts do or do not exist. Authors should do so in the manuscript on a conflict-of-interest notification page, providing additional detail, if necessary, in a cover letter that accompanies the manuscript. Increasingly, individual studies receive funding from commercial firms, private foundations, and government. The conditions of this funding have the potential to bias and otherwise discredit the research.

Scientists have an ethical obligation to submit creditable research results for publication. Moreover, as the persons directly responsible for their work, researchers should not enter into agreements that interfere with their access to the data and their ability to analyze them independently, and to prepare and publish manuscripts. Authors should describe the role of the study sponsor, if any, in study design; collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; writing the report; and the decision to submit the report for publication. If the supporting source had no such involvement, the authors should so state. Biases potentially introduced when sponsors are directly involved in research are analogous to methodological biases.

Editors may request that authors of a study funded by an agency with a proprietary or financial interest in the outcome sign a statement, such as “I had full access to all of the data in this study and I take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.” Editors should be encouraged to review copies of the protocol and/or contracts associated with project-specific studies before accepting such studies for publication. Editors may choose not to consider an article if a sponsor has asserted control over the authors’ right to publish.

Reviewers must disclose to editors any conflicts of interest that could bias their opinions of the manuscript, and they should recuse themselves from reviewing specific manuscripts if the potential for bias exists. As in the case of authors, silence on the part of reviewers concerning potential conflicts may mean either that conflicts exist and the reviewer has failed to disclose them or conflicts do not exist. Reviewers must therefore also be asked to state explicitly whether conflicts do or do not exist. Reviewers must not use knowledge of the work, before its publication, to further their own interests.

Editors who make final decisions about manuscripts must have no personal, professional, or financial involvement in any of the issues they might judge. Other members of the editorial staff, if they participate in editorial decisions, must provide editors with a current description of their financial interests (as they might relate to editorial judgments) and recuse themselves from any decisions in which a conflict of interest exists.

Informed Consent

Open Medical Publishing journals strictly follows the ICMJE Protection of Research Participants policy. Patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. When informed consent has been obtained, editors may request authors to provide a copy before making the editorial decision. Authors can find a template for the Informed Consent here.
Manuscripts must be reviewed with due respect for authors’ confidentiality. In submitting their manuscripts for review, authors entrust editors with the results of their scientific work and creative effort, on which their reputation and career may depend. Authors’ rights may be violated by disclosure of the confidential details during review of their manuscript. Reviewers also have rights to confidentiality, which must be respected by the editor. Confidentiality may have to be breached if dishonesty or fraud is alleged but otherwise must be honored. Editors must not disclose information about manuscripts (including their receipt, content, status in the reviewing process, criticism by reviewers, or ultimate fate) to anyone other than the authors and reviewers. This includes requests to use the materials for legal proceedings.

Obligation to Register Clinical Trials

The ICMJE believes that it is important to foster a comprehensive, publicly available database of clinical trials. The ICMJE defines a clinical trial as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or concurrent comparison or control groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Medical interventions include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, process-of-care changes, etc. Our journals require, as a condition of consideration for publication, registration in a public trials registry. The journal considers a trial for publication only if it has been registered before the enrollment of the first patient. The journal does not advocate one particular registry, but requires authors to register their trial in a registry that meets several criteria. The registry must be accessible to the public at no charge. It must be open to all prospective registrants and managed by a non-profit organization. There must be a mechanism to ensure the validity of the registration data, and the registry should be electronically searchable. An acceptable registry must include a minimum of data elements (http://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/clinical-trials-registration/). For example, ClinicalTrials.gov (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov), sponsored by the United States National Library of Medicine, meets these requirements.

Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Research

When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. An Informed Consent statement is always required from patients involved in any experiments. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. Further guidance on animal research ethics is available from the World Medical Association (2016 revision). When reporting experiments on ecosystems involving non-native species, Authors are bound to ensure compliance with the institutional and national guide for the preservation of native biodiversity.