Author's Guidelines

Open Access Statement 

• The “Scientific journal of Medical Scholar” is an Open access Journal. As an open access journal, all content of "SJMS" is freely available without any charges or restrictions to the user or his/her institution. All users have the right “permission” to read, download, and use the published articles by any means for any lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, provided that, they adhere to their legal responsibilities according to the SJMS license. This is in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access.

Type of Articles 

All articles types (related to medicine) are accepted for submission (e.g., Original articles, Review article (Narrative, Systematic and Meta-analysis), Case reports, etc..). However, it is the editorial rights and decision to accept or decline the type of article secheduled for further assessment.  

Publication Schedule

• SJMS publishes articles on its website immediately in a continuous publication schedule, short time after its acceptance for publication. However, or purposes of arrangedment and prints, it is categorized in issues (One issue) every two months. If printed, the articles in printable forms are exactly typical to online  published version.

Manuscript Preparation, Format and Submission

Manuscript preparation

Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the "Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals" developed by the ICMJE, and available at http://www.icmje.org/. ICMJE developed these guidelines to review and establish the best practices and ethical standards in the research conduct and reporting for medical journals, and to help authors, editors, reviewers and publishers creating and disseminating an accurate, clear, reproducible, unbiased researches. SJMS follows ICMJE “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals”.

• General considerations:
• The manuscript text should be formatted into sections, according to the “IMRAD” structure (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion Sections; and subheadings are acceptable).
• References list, of course, must be provided at the end of the manuscript.
• Other types of manuscripts (e.g., meta-analyses, case reports, narrative reviews and editorials) may require different structured formats, according to specific guidelines.
• The SJMS recommends the use of available specific guidelines for reporting of different study types (e.g., CONSORT (www.consort-statement.org) for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies (http://strobe-statement.org/), PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (http://prisma-statement.org/), and STARD for studies of diagnostic accuracy (http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/stard/) and for an extensive list of regulations, visit national library of medicine (NLM) Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives By Organization, at https://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/research_report_guide.html. 
• Title
• Title should be concise, and informative. Population type should be specified in the title, as much as possible. The study design information should be a part of the title (particularly for Case Reports, Randomized Trials, Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses). The key terms in a title should be arranged, from (exposure, outcome, population, study type), as in the following examples: “Effect of Maternal Exposure to bisphenol-A on the neonatal outcome”.
• Author information
• Author information must include each author’s full name, highest academic degree, their affiliation (department, institution and country should be included). A working example for author’s affiliation [Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt]. This data must be provided during the submission process. Author’s email address is the mandatory beginning point of each author’s data entry. The SJMS recommends the listing of authors’ Open Researcher and Contributor Identification (ORCID) number, researcher ID or any equivalent.
• Abstract

A structured abstract (divided into sections: Background, the Aim, Patients and Methods, Results and Conclusions) is required. The accepted word count is 150 to 300 words. It should highlight new and vital aspects of the study, and reflect its value. It is our recommendations to warrant that, your abstract is accurately reflect the content of your article, as the abstract is crucial for indexing and usually the first part read by researchers.  The trial registration number and source of funding could be submitted after the abstract.

• Introduction
• Introduction should provide a background for the study (the nature of the research problem and its importance to the scientific community). It must reflect what is already known about the problem, the gab of knowledge (what is not known), and the value the study will add to known literature (the potential contribution of the manuscript in filling some of the knowledge gap). Only pertinent and most recent references are encouraged for citation. The objective or the aim of the work could be included at the end of introduction or put under a separate subsequent heading.
• Patients and Methods [Methodology]
• Methods must be clear, describe how and why a study was performed. It should be sufficiently detailed to be reproducible (e.g., others with access to the data would be able to independently reproduce the results). Only data used at the study protocol writing will be included in the methodology section. Any data obtained during the implementation must be addressed in the results section. An ethical review and approval by local or international boards statement must be provided and any deviation for standard research conduction and reportion should be rationalized – if occurred.
• The study participants or samples must be described in details. Mainly, the inclusion methods, eligibility, and exclusion criteria must be clarified. The sample size justification (determination of the sample and method of sampling) must be provided and methods of randomization must be included when applicable. Authors should use neutral, precise, and respectful tone to describe the study participants and the use of any stigmatizing terms must be avoided.
• The primary (main) and secondary outcomes of the study must be specified in detail. Specific methods and any used equipment (instrument, hard or soft) must be described and linked to the manufacturer (the name and address provided in parentheses).
• The procedures must be written in details to permit reproduction or returned to their original references (where details could be found), and a brief summary must be included.
• Any used drugs or chemicals must be presented by their generic name(s), dose(s), and administration route(s).
• Statistical methods used in the analysis must be included with sufficient details to permit judgement of its appropriateness and to verify the results. Statistical terms, abbreviations or any symptoms must be defined. The software package, their manufacturer or distributer and its version must be provided.
• Results
• Results must be presented in a logical sequence in a text, tabular or graphical formats. The most important results must be presented at first. Data presented in tables must not iterated in the text or graphs. Results about all primary and secondary outcomes (identified in methods section) must be included. An appendix could be added to include supplementary materials and any technical details. Graphs used as alternatives to tables with many entries, provided that, it clear and informative.  
• Discussion
• This section wisely starting by short summary of the significant results, followed by exploration of potential mechanisms or explanations for reported results. The new and important results must be confirmed; and results put in the context of the relevant evidence.
• Iteration of detailed results are not recommended, especially when detailed in previous sections.
• Limitations of the study, potential implications, future research direction, and recommendations clinical practice or policymaking must be included.
• The conclusions must be linked the aim of the study and any unqualified sentences or conclusions must be avoided. In addition, any statements on economic impacts must be avoided unless the manuscript results include the appropriate facts.
• References
• Direct references to original research sources should be included. The citation of pseudo- or predatory journals should be avoided. References to accepted, un-published papers should be presented as “in press”. Information from articles under publication should be cited in the text as “unpublished data” with permission from the source. A “Personal communication” or retracted article citation are not accepted. References should be numbered consecutively according their order in which they are first appeared in the text. In the manuscript text, references are identified by Arabic numerals, in superscript parentheses.  Repeated references use the same first number assigned for them. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used for MEDLINE (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals). The national library of medicine (NLM) format for references must be used in reference list. Next are working examples.
• Original Article “Yousef A, Elsaied M, Yeh S. Neonatal outcome after exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. Arch Obstet Gynecol. 2020 Feb;127(2):179-86. DOI: 1001/ArchObstetgynecol.2020.564”. The use of unique digital object identifier “DOI” is recommended. Other identifiers “e.g., PubMed PMID, PubMed Central PMCID” are optionally requirement.
• To check other comprehensive list of all available reference types, visit “https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html”
• Tables
• Tables usually used to summarize data, whenever possible. SJMS recommended inclusion of tables in the end of the submitted manuscript after references list, or at their desired position in the text. Table’s title should be short but self-explanatory, informative, and must be cited in text (by its logical sequential number). Each column must have a short or an abbreviated heading. Footnotes and abbreviations must be included under each table to explain data in tables.
• Tables of original data are usually appropriate for electronic not printable formats. An appropriate statement should be added to inform readers about availability and location of this additional information. SJMS recommends online submission of such data as a supplementary material to be available for editorial and peer review.
• Figures (graphs or illustrations)
• Digital images submitted in a suitable format for printing. Radiological and histopathology figures must be of high-quality. SJMS usually asks author consent to redraw or manipulate images for better representation in the printed issues. Thus, letters, numbers, and any symbols on figures should be clear, large enough and consistent throughout all figures. Photomicrographs must have internal scale.
• Symbols, arrows, or letters should be contrasted with the background, and methods of staining must be provided in the image legend. Figures must be numbered in a consecutive logical pattern and must be cited in text.
• Sources of previously published figures must be acknowledged with permission of copyright holder, except those in public domains.
• Units of Measurement
• SJMS recommends the use of units of “International System of Units”. However, any equivalents are accepted.
• Abbreviations and Symbols
• The use of standard abbreviations is highly recommended by the SJMS. Abbreviations in article title is not permitted.
• The complete spelled-out abbreviations must be followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis. Then used in the abbreviation format in the next sections of the article. No abbreviations without prior complete spelling out are permitted even if the abbreviation is a well-known for researchers in the field. Only standard unit of measurement are permitted.

Manuscript format

• Paper format )font type: Times New Roman; font size: 12 points; Line spacing: single or dobule spaced; number of pages in the bottom middle; paper size: A4; margins: 2.5 cm margin (up, down, right and left) and all manuscript written in one column.

Manuscript submission

• Manuscripts are fully submitted through an electronic submission system, at the SJMS online site. Our online submission system is a simple stepwise approach.
• Editable files (e.g., doc, docx, etc..) are accepted to ease the typeset of the manuscripts for final publication.
• New users should register an account. The registration process is completely free but mandatory to track the publication process of the submitted articles.
• Editorial team will appreciate all feedback, deal with any ethical disputes or misconduct and solve any problems facing authors.
• Authors are instructed to just contact the managing editor at journal contact details.  
• For simplicity and more compliance, SJMS editorial team asked the authors to submit his/her manuscript as a single file. However, it must be anonymized and authors data must be provided only on submission system, in the title page or copyright form.
• The SJMS recommends attachment of raw data used in analysis as a supplementary file. Sometimes the data must be supplied to go on with the process of publication.

Clinical Trial Registration

• SJMS advocates the registration of clinical trials at or before the time of the first patient enrollment. SJMS would publish clinical trials that have been registered with a clinical trial registry. According to ICMJE guidelines, the clinical trial is any research that assigns people to an intervention, with or without control group, to investigate the associations between an intervention and a health outcome. Registration in the following registers is accepted by the SJMS: http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp; http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr; http://isrctn.org/ and http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/

Copyright Holder

• Authors who publish with “SJMS” retain copyrights to their work, as a part of open-access policy of the journal.

Editorial Workflow 

• SJMS accepts submissions for assessment, provided that at the time of submission, the article had not submitted, considered or accepted for publication elsewhere.
• The Authors should assign one of them as “a corresponding author” to contact “SJMS” for all aspects related to the publication process.  
• When a new article will be submitted, it will be checked by editor in chief (or deputy editor in chief). Then forwarded to one of the associate editors or passed directly to peer reviewers. This will be based on the principle editorial criteria of originality and signficance.
• The corresponding author will be notified about the first decision within one month from the time of submission. The whole process will be completed through the online submission system.  
• The first editorial decision will be one of the following:
  • Asking authors to do changes in their manuscript to be in line with the “SJMS” guidelines
  • Select and send article for peer review
  • Desk rejection
• When the manuscript assigned to peer review and the process had been completed. The decision may be
  • Asking the authors to respond to peer reviewers’ recommendations and complete the publication process.
  • Reject article and notify corresponding authors
  • Direct acceptance of the article
• A second round of peer review may or may not be achieved according to editorial decision and the reviewer’s recommendations.  
• The finally accepted manuscripts will be sent to copyeditor, revised for format, grammar, and punctuation. Page proofs may be sent to the corresponding author for final look. Minor editing is permitted and completed by the copyeditor, provided that, it did not affect the article contents, and usually retained for abstract. In this condition, article forwarded to the corresponding author for acceptance and a response will be expected within 15 working days.

Peer Review Process 

• Peer review stands to helps authors and editors improving the research reporting quality. SJMS adheres to a double-blind peer review process. Thus, after initial editorial acceptance, the article will be forwarded to many reviewers with relevant expertise.
• It is required to review the article by at least two reviewers, and one month is permitted to review the manuscript.
• If their decision with publication, their required article improvement recommendations will be sent to the authors to provide their response within one month. After the authors revisions, manuscript may be submitted to a second peer review cycle, returned to the same reviewers or a direct editorial decision could be issued (it may be acceptance, further revision or rejection).
• In the states of contradictory decision of reviewers, the article will be submitted to another reviewer or an editor to further review the manuscript and his opinion will support one of contradictory reviewers.
• The selection of reviewers depends on their expertise, reputation and the own prior experience of a referee’s characteristics.
• The corresponding author will be asked to – selectively- provide two reviewers, to increase the journal database of reviewers. However, those recommended reviewers do not review the article submitted by recommended authors.  

Final decision after the whole peer review process  

• Acceptance
• Inviting authors to revise their manuscript
• Rejection.

Post-publication peer review

• SJMS among other publishers, believe that, the true peer review process just begins only on the date a manuscript was published. Thus, post-publication peer review is recommended and SJMS welcome all comments. Any post-publication peer review recommendations, questions, or criticisms will be submitted to editorial office (see contact details).

Publication Ethics

• Author must confirm that, their work was performed with respect to the Declaration of Helsinki principles of research conduct and reporting (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/), and a formal review and acceptance by an appropriate institutional research and ethics review board is recommended (The number and date of approval must be provided within the methods section of the manuscript).
• When reporting animal experiments, authors should confirm that, their work is in line with the national standards for the care and use of laboratory animals, or with other similar recommendations (e.g., “the International Association of Veterinary Editors’ Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare (http://www.veteditors.org/consensus-author-guidelines-on-animal-ethics-and-welfare-for-editors)).
• Consent: In clinical trials, an informed written consent must be signed by the patient or his/her guardian and the research must be compliant with the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (icmje.org). Authors required to forward a copy of consent or sign a certificate letter about the process of consenting.  
• Confidentiality is respected and be guaranteed. It is the sole responsibility of the authors to ensure that, patients' data or any data referring to his/her identity will not be violated in any section of their manuscript (including figures).
• Plagiarism Prevention: Plagiarism is an offence that strictly prohibited, and by submitting the article for publication, the authors agree that the publishers have the right to take appropriate action if plagiarism is discovered. SJMS uses a plagiarism detection software (e.g., iThenticate) to check for instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. SJMS permits an overall similarity index of ≤ 20% for a manuscript to be considered for publication. Articles with higher percentages of plagiarism may be rejected directly or returned to the authors to correct the problem.
• Research Misconduct: Scientific misconduct in research includes but is not limited to data fabrication; data falsification, including different image manipulation; and plagiarism. Each case of research misconduct will be treated individually and decisions will be built on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) flowcharts (https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Flowcharts). Cases also may be submitted – anonymously – to be discussed in COPE forums.
• All cases of misconduct allegations, authorship disputes, or suspicion manuscript manipulations (e.g., paper mills) will be discussed seriously and anonymously by the editorial board and appropriate decision according to COPE guidelines.
• If editorial board decide to retract the manuscript, a retraction stamp will be added to the published version of the article through all pages and the title of the article.
• Corrections and retractions: Honest errors are an inevitable part of science and publishing processes. When discovered, correction is needed, encouraged and supported by SJMS. Corrections are considered for errors of facts, and published in both electronic and print format to ensure proper indexing. The old version of article (with errors) had an announcement of recent corrected version, which will be published with correction. This applied for errors which did not change the results significance, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations of the article. However, if errors are serious enough to affect result validations, conclusion and recommendations of the article, retraction is the rule.  However, retraction with republication (replacement) could be considered in cases of unintentional, and honest errors (e.g., miscalculation or misclassification) with valid science. The article considered for republication with further editorial and peer review process with inclusion of original data and extent of correction, as an appendix for transparency.  
• Authorship criteria
• For authorship to be considered, the author must fulfil the principle four criteria of authorship recommended by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). These are: 1) Significant participation in the conceptualization or work design; or the gaining, analysis, or explanation of data for the work; 2) Drafting and/or revising the manuscript critically; 3) Approve the final manuscript version submitted for publication; 4) Held the responsibility for all aspects of the work regarding its accuracy and integrity.
• It is the collective responsibility of the authors, not SJMS, to guarantee that all people named as authors meet all authorship criteria; it is not the role of SJMS editors to determine who qualifies or does not qualify for authorship or to mediate authorship conflicts.
• Contribution details: Authors should provide a clear description of each individual author contribution. Contribution should include author’s role in conceptualization, design, definition of intellectual content, literature search, data acquisition and analysis, manuscript drafting, writing and revision.
• Changes to authorship: Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors beforemanuscript submission and the definitive list of authors must be completed at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors list should be made only before the manuscript acceptance and must be approved by the Editor in chief. However, any changes must be signed and approved by all authors. A written approval letter must be provided, which will be retained by the journal.
• Non-Author Contributors: Contributors who do not meet all authorship criteria should not be listed as authors. However, they should be acknowledged. Examples include but not limited to acquisition of funding, administrative support, writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading.
• Financial and Non-Financial Relationships, Activities, and Conflicts of Interest
• A declaration of financial (e.g., employment, consultations and ownership,), non-financial relationships and activities of interest (e.g, personal relationships or competition, and intellectual beliefs) must be declared. If any conflicts not found, it must be declared. Financial interests, direct or indirect, that exist in connection with the content of the manuscript must be declared in the cover letter.

Reprints and Proofs

SJMS provides no free or payed printed reprints. Auhors are fully responsible for the printed versions of their articles. 

Article Processing Charges 

SJMS, asked authors, after acceptance of their article, to pay article processing (publication) charges  of 150 United States Dollars (For all authors except Egyptians) [applicable from January 2026 onwards, and may be changed without at any time according to administration team regulations].  

Egyptian authors (From January 2026 onwards) are asked to pay 2500 Egyptian pounds for their accepted manuscripts. 

No waiving will be applied [Updated January, 12, 2026].

Archiving Policy

The Scientific Journal of Medical Scholar archived in The PKP Preservation Network (PN), LOCKSS and CLOCKSS

Deposit policy: According to the deposit policy (self-archiving policy) of the Scentific Journal of Medical Scholar Copyrights, authors can archive publisher's version/PDF in the institutional or personal repositories.