As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
All submissions must meet the following requirements.
All authors have read this article and agree to submission of the current version of the article. Also, as the submitting author, I have obtained consent from all co-authors for their names, emails and affiliations to be entered as part of the submission process.
Where relevant, appropriate ethics approval and informed consent were obtained, and the study adhered to the institutional/national ethics guidelines for the proper conduct of research.
The manuscript, including the references, strictly adheres to the manuscript preparation guidelines. I understand that articles that do not adhere to the guidelines will be returned to the authors without peer review, and that the authors will be asked to resubmit as a NEW SUBMISSION.
I confirm that the materials included in this manuscript do not violate copyright laws. If a copyright violation is brought to the attention of the publisher after publication, the publisher will notify the author for correspondence and it is the responsibility of the authors to settle issues with the copyright holder.
The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration.
I /We had full access to all the data of this study and I/we take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. If required, all original data will be available for verification.
Please ensure to include the names and contact information for 2-3 possible peer reviewers.
Author Guidelines
Please scroll down for 'instructions for submission' and ‘submission preparation checklist’. The following links have specific guidelines for the preparation of Original articles, Review articles, and Case reports.
Please have the following items ready before you begin submission
The manuscript, prepared and organized based on the guidelines that are relevant to your article (the guidelines can be found following the links for Original article, Review article, Case report).
Details of all authors, including affiliations and email addresses.
A cover letter, to be entered in step 1 of the submission process.
Details of three potential reviewers along with their affiliation and email, to be entered in step 1 of the submission process.
Original TIFF images (if relevant to your manuscript), to be uploaded separately in step 4 of the submission process.
Conflict of interest statement for each author.
The names and contact information for 2-3 possible peer reviewers.
Once they are ready, please follow the step-by-step submission guide described below.
Instructions for submission
Click the ‘REGISTER’ tab at the header and complete your profile. Remember to tick the 'Author' box at the end of the registration page.
Once the registration is complete you will receive an automated email with your username and password.
Click LOGIN using your username and password. This will take you to the ‘Active Submission page’.
Under Start a New Submission ‘CLICK HERE’ to start a five-step submission process.
Step 1:
Tick the submission checklists and the copyright notice. Authors retain the copyright.
In ‘Comments for Editor’ section, write a cover letter (can be copied and pasted from another document), addressed to the Editor-in-Chief, explaining the importance of the study. Below the cover letter, include the details (name, affiliation and email) of three potential reviewers. This is mandatory.
Click ‘save and continue’.
Step 2:
Under ‘Submission File’ browse your document and click the upload button. Ensure that this is a single Microsoft Word document. The time taken to upload depends upon the size of the document and the efficiency of your browser.
Once the upload is successful, you will see the following under ‘submission’.
File name: Automatically generated by the system.
Original file name: The Actual name of the file you have uploaded.
File size: indicates the size of your document.
Date uploaded: the date and time of the upload.
Click save and continue.
Step 3:
Fill in the details of the co-authors by clicking the 'add author' tab. As the submitting author, your details will appear by default.It is mandatory to add all authors.
Once all authors have been added, enter the title and abstract. You can cut and paste it from the original manuscript.
Fields for indexing is optional. If relevant, enter the details of contributing and supporting agencies. Click 'save and continue'.
Step 4:
Supplementary files. If there is a supplementary file (only for original articles) upload it here as a pdf.
Clearly identify that it is a supplementary file. Include as much detail as possible.
Also upload all figures of the manuscript as separate TIFF images.
Each figure should be uploaded separately.
Clearly identify the figure number.
Click 'save and continue'.
Step 5:
Click the finish submission tab and you will receive a message confirming your submission.
Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose. To provide our authors with the utmost privacy, all email correspondence that were performed external to the journal’s submission system will be removed after 30 days of inactivity.
The data collected from registered and non-registered users of this journal falls within the scope of the standard functioning of peer-reviewed journals. It includes information that makes communication possible for the editorial process; it is used to inform readers about the authorship and editing of content; it enables collecting aggregated data on readership behaviors, as well as tracking geopolitical and social elements of scholarly communication.
This journal uses this data to guide its work in publishing and improving this journal. Data that will assist in developing this publishing platform may be shared with its developer Public Knowledge Project in an anonymized and aggregated form, with appropriate exceptions such as article metrics. The data will not be sold by this journal or PKP nor will it be used for purposes other than those stated here. The authors published in this journal are responsible for the human subject data that figures in the research reported here.
Those involved in editing this journal seek to be compliant with industry standards for data privacy, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provision for “data subject rights” that include (a) breach notification; (b) right of access; (c) the right to be forgotten; (d) data portability; and (e) privacy by design. The GDPR also allows for the recognition of “the public interest in the availability of the data,” which has a particular saliency for those involved in maintaining, with the greatest integrity possible, the public record of scholarly publishing.
