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Instruction to Authors (Printer
friendly format) *
* Requires Microsoft Word
INTRODUCTION
Formerly known as ‘The Journal of the
Kuwait Medical Association’, the Kuwait Medical Journal (KMJ) was
established in the year 1967. It is the officialpublication of the
Kuwait Medical Association and published quarterly and regularly in
March, June, September and December.
AIMS AND
SCOPE
KMJ aims to publish peer-reviewed manuscripts of
international interest. Submissions on clinical,
scientificorlaboratoryinvestigationsofrelevancetomedicine and health
science come within the scope of its publication. Original articles,
case reports, brief communications, book reviews, insights and
letters to the editor are all considered. Review articles are
solicited. Basic medical science articles are published under the
section ‘Experimental Medicine’.
GENERAL
The Kuwait Medical Journal is a signatory journal to the Uniform
Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, the
fifth (1997)revisionofadocument by the international Committee of
Medical Journal Editors. A description of important features of this
document is available on the Lancet website at
http://www.thelancet.com. Alternatively, you may consult the
following: N Engl J Med 1997; 336:307-315 or order the
leaflet“UniformRequirementsforManuscripts Submitted to Biomdical
Journals” by writing to the Editor of the British Medical Journal
(BMJ), BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JR, UK.
To present your original work for consideration, one complete set of
the manuscript, written in English (only), accompanied by tables,
and one set of figures(if applicable), should be submitted to the
Editor. Authors should also provide the manuscript on an IBM
compatible medium such as floppy,CD(inMSword format) or pen-drive,
if not submitted through e-mail. The KMJ editorial
officeusesMicrosoft‘Office2007’ word processing and ‘Excel’
programs. Details of the type of computer used, the software
employed and the disk system, if known, would be appreciated.
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS
Amanuscript could be submitted through e-mail as an attached
word-document (.doc), together with a scanned copy of the signed
consent letter of the author(s). The consent letter could otherwise
be faxed to the journal officeat(00965)25312630or25333276.Figures,
if any, need to be in .jpg/.jpeg/.bmp format with 300 dpi resolution
and illustrations such as drawings, charts, Excel presentation,
etc. shall be submitted as separate attachments.
Incomplete/improper submissions will not be processed, and will be
returned.
Following a peer review process, the corresponding author will be
advised of the status; acceptance/recommendation for revision or
rejection of the paper, in a formal letter sent through post and/or
e-mail. A galley proof will be forwarded to the corresponding author
through e-mail before publication of the accepted papers which must
be returned to the journal
officewithin48hourswithspecificcomments,ifany.Corrections in the
galley proof, in case any, must be limited to typographical errors,
or missing contents only.
ETHICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
Where human investigations or animal experiments are part of the
study, the design of the work has to be approved by local ethics
committee. A relevant statement of approval should be added in the
‘Subjects and Methods’ section of the manuscript..
PREPARATION OF THE MANUSCRIPT
Themanuscript should be typed as ‘normal text’ with no hyphenation
and no hard returns within paragraphs (use automatic wordwrap) on
one side of A4 size (29.7 x 21 cm) paper in single column format,
preferably in font size no.12. No artwork and/or special effects are
acceptable for the text and/or table(s). Italics should not be used
other than for foreign/Latin expressions and/or special
terminologies such as names of micro organisms. Maintain a minimum
of 2 cm margin on both sides of the text and a 3 cm margin at the
top and bottom of each page. No part of the text other than
abbreviations and/or subtitles shall be written in upper case (ALL
capital). Header/foot notes, end notes, lines drawn to separate the
paragraphs or pages etc. are not acceptable.
The order of the text:
Original Articles: Title page, Abstract (in structured format
for original articles) of no more than 250 words, Key Words (no more
than five),followedbyIntroduction, Subjects (or Materials) and
methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgment/s (if any),
References, Legends to figures,Tables,andFigures. Each section
should begin on a new page.
Review Articles (solicited): Title Page, Abstract of no more than
250 words, Key Words (no more than
five),followedbyIntroduction,Methods/History(if applicable),
Literature Review, Conclusion,Acknowledgment/s (if any), References,
Legends to figures,Tables,andFigures.Eachsectionshouldbegin on a new
page.
Case Studies:
Title page followed by Abstract (a short summary of not more than
200 words), Key Words, Introduction, Case history/report,
Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgment/s (if any), References,
Legends to figures,Tables,andFigures.Manuscript should be paginated
consecutively, commencing with the title page. Main headings,
introduction, subjects and methods, etc., should be placed on
separate lines. Key Words should be preferably MeSH terms, and must
not duplicate words already in the manuscript title; MesH terms can
be checked at: <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/
MBrowser.html>.
THE TITLE
PAGE
Title page of the submitted manuscript should provide a clear
title of the study followed by full names of all authors, the
highest academic degree and affiliationsifany,thenameandaddressofthe
institution/s where the work was done including the department, the
name and complete address of the corresponding author to whom proofs
and correspondences shall be sent, duly supported with contacts such
as telephone, mobile/cell, fax and e-mail address (if available).
STRUCTURED
ABSTRACT
A structured abstract (no more than 250 words) is required for
studies under the section “Original Articles”. It must provide an
overview of the entire paper, and should contain succinct statements
on the following, where appropriate: Objective(s), Design, Setting,
Subjects, Intervention(s), Main Outcome Measure(s), Result(s), and
Conclusion(s). (See: Haynes RB, Mulrow CD, Huth AJ, Altman DG,
Gardner MJ. More informative abstracts revisited. Annals of Internal
Medicine 1990; 113:69-76). Abstract for all other category of
submissions shall be a short summary followed by Key words and the
report or review.
TABLESTables
typed on separate pages using table format should follow the
list of references. All tables must be numbered consecutively and
provided with appropriate titles. Contents of the table should be
simple, and information therein not duplicated, but duly referred
to, in the main text. Tables recording only a few values are not
appreciated, since such information can be more accurately, usefully
and concisely presented as a sentence or two in the text.
DESIGN OF THE
WORK
This tshould be stated clearly. The rationale behind the
choice of sample size should be given. Those.about to begin
randomized controlled studies may wish to study the CONSORT
statement (JAMA 1996; 276:637-639).
ILLUSTRATIONS
Photographs, Photomicrographs, line drawings, transparencies, etc.
must be of high quality and supplied in original (not photocopies or
laser prints) of size 10 x 15 cm (4” x 6”). Regarding scanned image
requirements, see ‘Electronic Submissions’. Photographs should
fitwithinaprintareaof164x235 mm. All the
figuresmustbenumberedserially(Fig 1, Fig 2 etc.) and the
figurenumberwrittenonthe back of each, together with an arrow drawn
to indicate the top edge. Figures where patient’s identity is not
concealed, authors should submit a written consent of the patient or
of the patient’s guardian, in case of minors. Figure legends should
be listed separately after the ‘References’ section. If any of the
tables, illustrations or photomicrographs have been published
elsewhere previously, a written consent for re-production is
required from the copyright holder along with the manuscript. Charts
and drawings must be professionally done, duly titled and submitted
in Excel format as separate files.Whenchartsaresubmitted, the
numerical data on which they were based should be supplied.
ABBREVIATIONS
Except for units of measurement, abbreviations should be
definedonfirstuse and then applied consistently throughout the
article. Non-standard abbreviations or those appearing fewer than
three times are not accepted. Use abbreviated units of measure, only
when used with numbers.
NUMBERS AND
UNITS
Measurements of length, height, weight and volume must be reported
in metric units (meter, kilogram, liter etc.) or their decimal
multiples. Temperature should be given in degrees Celsius. Blood
pressure in mm Hg, and hematological and biochemical measurements in
Système International (SI) units. For decimal values, use a point,
and not a comma, e.g., 5.7. Use a comma for numbers > 10,000 (i.e.,
103) and for numbers < 9999, do not use a comma (e.g., 6542).
DRUG NAMES
Non-proprietary
(generic) names of product should be employed. If a brand name for a
drug is used, the British or international non-proprietary
(approved) name should be given in parentheses. The source of any
new or experimental preparation should also be given.
REFERENCES
Ireferences in the text in sequence using Arabic numerals within
square brackets and as superscripts (e.g.,[1, 3-5] etc). Do not
quote additional data (like part of the title, year of publication
etc.) from the references with citations in the text, unless very
important. In the References section, list them in the same sequence
as they appeared in the text. Include the names and initials of all
authors if not more than six (≤ 6); when authorship exceeds six, use
et al after three author names. Do not use automatic numbering, end
notes or footnotes for references. References to manuscripts either
in preparation or submitted for publication, personal
communications, unpublished data, etc. are not acceptable.
The author’s
name should be followed by the title of the article, the title of
the journal abbreviated in the style of the Index Medicus, the year
of publication, the volume number and the firstandlast page numbers.
References to books should give the title of the book, followed by
the place of publication, the publisher, the year and the relevant
pages. Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the style
in Index Medicus. References should be limited to those relating
directly to the contents of the paper and should be set out in
Vancouver style, as shown in the examples below.
.EXAMPLES
Article
Burrows B, Lebowitz MD. The agonists dilemma (editorial). N Engl J
Med 1992; 326:560-561.
Book
Roberts NK. The cardiac conducting system and His bundle electrogram.
New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1981; 49-56.
Book chapter
Philips SJ, Whisnam JP. Hypertension and stroke, In: Laragh JH,
Bremner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and
management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. p 465-478.
Weblinks
U.S. positions on selected issues at the third negotiating session
of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Washington, D.C.:
Committee on Government Reform, 2002. (Accessed June 4, 2003, at
http://www.house.gov/reform/min/inves.tobacco/ index_accord.htm.)
AUTHORSHIP AND CONSENT FORM
All authors must give their signed consent for publication in a
letter of submission, which should accompany the manuscript. This
letter should contain the statement that “This manuscript (write the
title) is an unpublished work which is not under consideration
elsewhere and the results contained in this paper have not been
published previously in whole or part, except in abstract form. In
consideration of the KMJ accepting my/our submission for
publication, the author(s) undersigned hereby assign all copyrights
ownership to the KMJ and shall have no right to withdraw its
publication. It is expressly certified that I/we, have done/activelyparticipatedinthis
study and agree to the accuracy of contents of this manuscript. It
was conducted in accordance with current ethical considerations and
meets with the committee’s approval. I/all of us agree to its
publication in KMJ and to the authorship as expressed in this
declaration and in the title page of our manuscript”. The
participation of the authors must include: conception, design,
analysis, interpretation, or drafting the article for critically
important intellectual content. A change in authorship after initial
submission of a manuscript should be duly supported with a
documented request from the main author, duly endorsed by the author
removed/withdrawn, in agreement.
More than six
authors are not appreciated for an article and if listed, the
authors may be asked to justify the contribution of each individual
author. For case reports, not more than three authors are
acceptable. Regarding contributions of authors over the limit
mentioned above, read the ‘Acknowledgment’ section.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The objective of
this section is to disclose affiliations with or association of any
organization with a direct financialinterestin the study. Otherwise
,itwillbeconsidered as having no such interests. Contributions of
others who have involved in the study, such as statisticians,
radiologists etc. and/or those who have assisted in the preparation
of the manuscript being submitted could also be included in this
section.
COPYRIGHT
publisher reserves copyright on the Journal’s contents. No part
may be reproduced, translated or transmitted in any form by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including scanning, photocopying,
recording or any other information storage and retrieval system
without prior permission from the publisher. The publisher shall not
be held responsible for any inaccuracy of the information contained
therein.
SUBMISSION OF A MANUSCRIPT
Manuscripts should be
submitted to:
The Editor,
Kuwait Medical Journal
P.O. Box: 1202
Code-13013-Safat
Kuwait
Telephone (965) 5316023, 5333278; 5317972
Fax (965) 5312630; 5333276
e-mail : kmj@kma.org.kw
Website: www.kma.org.kw/KMJ
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