Karbala Journal of Medicine

Author Guidelines

Karbala Journal of Medicine published every four months by Karbala Medical College. The journal welcomes original articles, case reports and letters to editor in all fields relevant to medicine. Review articles are usually by invitation only. However, review articles of high standards will be considered. Arabic or English languages could be used.

Papers are accepted on the understanding that the subject matter has not and will not be submitted simultaneously to another journal. The following notes are accepted to be considered carefully in writing manuscripts.

 

  1. Manuscripts preparation: the format of the Karbala journal of medicine complies with the ″uniform Requirement for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals″ published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in Vancouver, British Colombia, in 1979 and its last update in February 2006, available on the website icmje.org.
  2. Three clear and complete copies and CD should be submitted, manuscripts and figures will not be returned to the authors irrespective of the editorial decision to accept, revise or reject them.
  3. Manuscripts must be accompanied by a covering letter signed by all authors that the paper has not been published and will not be submitted to another journal if accepted in the KJM.
  4. The manuscript should be written on two columns style with font the size 16 for the main title, the first letter in capital only, 14 for secondary title, 12 for the main manuscript and 10 for the references.
  5. The title page should include:
    • Title of the paper in English.
    • Correct first name, middle name and family name of all authors in Arabic and English as well as maximum of two highest academic degrees for each author.
    • Name (s) and address (es) of the institution (s) where the work was carried out.
    • The name and address of the author responsible for correspondence together with telephone number, fax number and e-mail address (if any).
  6. Abstracts for original articles should contain a structured abstract of not more than 250 words in Arabic and English. Abstract headings include: Background, objectives, methods, results and conclusions.

Abstracts in Arabic and English of review articles and case reports should be unstructured and of not more than 150 words.

  1. Three to ten keywords should be provided on the same page as the abstract in English and Arabic .as far as possible, the keywords should be selected from the national library of medicine.
  2. medical subject headings:
  3. Introduction: should state clearly the purpose and rationale of the study.
  4. Methods: should include selection of subjects, identifications of the methods, apparatus and chemicals used and include statistical analysis.
  5. Results: presented in a logical sequence preferably with tables and illustrations      emphasizing in the text only the important observations.
  6. Discussion: emphasizes new findings of the study, implications and reference to other relevant studies.
  7. Acknowledgements: only to person who have made substantive contribution to the study.
  8. References: should be in the Vancouver style. They should appear in the text by numbers in the order. List all authors when six or less; +66when seven or more, list only first six and add et al. journal titles should be abbreviated in accordance with index Medicus. Examples of correct reference forms are given as follows:

 Journal: .Gossios K; Katsimbri P; Tsianos E; CT features of gastric lymphoma. Eur Radiol.2000; 10: 425-430

 Book chapter: Paul Angulo and Keith D. Lindor .Primary biliary cirrhosis .In: Feldman, MD, Lawrence S., Friedman, MD, Marvin H. Sleisenger, MD. Gastrointestinal and liver disease, 7th edition, Saunders copyright 2002;76:1474-1515

g– Illustrations: photographs uncounted on glossy paper should be provided with magnification scale if appropriate. Lettering should be in either letterset or stencil of comparable size. Illustrations should be marked on the back with the figure number, title of the paper and name (s) of the author (s) with soft pencil. All photographs, graphs and diagrams should be referred to as figures and should be numbered consecutively in the text in Arabic numerals. The legends to illustrations should be typed on a separate sheet. Tables should be numbered consecutively lines normally will not be printed.

  1. Measurement are preferably expressed in Sl units.
  2. Authors are advised to follow the Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary in spelling.
  3. Articles and abstracts written in Arabic should follow the Unified Medical Dictionary (council of Arab ministers of Health\Who\Arab Medical Union\ALESCO, 3rd edition).
  4. Use only standard   abbreviations in the title and abstract. The full term for which the abbreviation   stand    should precede its first use in the text.
  5. After the manuscript has been accepted for publication, authors are required to supply the final version of the manuscripts on CD IBM compatible disc in MS word 2000 and more.
  6. Page proof will be sent to the corresponding author for proof correction. Major alterations from the text cannot be accepted.
  7. When sending manuscripts, authors from outside Iraq requested to send fifty thousand ID to cover the cost of processing and publication.