Submissions
Submission Preparation Checklist
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.- The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
- Three files are mandatorily prepared. Title page, manuscript with author information, and anonymized manuscript (without author information).
- Copyright full and signed.
- The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
- Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
- The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font, Times New Roman, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations. Tables are placed after the reference list and figures in separate files,
- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
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The abstract should be no more than 250 words and structured to:
1- Background
2- Methods
3- Results
4- Conclusion
5- Keywords ( 3-7 keywords) - Introduction (1-2 pages)
-
Materials and Methods or Subjects and methods, or Patients and Methods as what better fit
it should include
Type of study, setteing
Sample and sampling techniques with inclusion and exlusions criteria if fit.
instruments or tools used
units, measures, scores or classification used with proper citation if required
ethical issues and ethical approval
statistics used
- Ethical approval with number and date
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Results: as text, tables, figures, and Legends.
P- values should be written properly as needed with 3 decimals. If its value is below 0.001 so written as (< 0.001) -
Discussion: a precise discussion that explains the findings of the study. The meaning or impact of it, with suitable comparison as appropriate and proper citation.
keep in mind discussion is not repetition of results.
limitations and difficulties if applicable - Conclusions: a precise conclusion in a paragraph, not bullets, highlighting the main findings of the study and answering the study objectives. A relevant specific recommendation might be included.
- References: Vancouver style
- Template
Author Guidelines
AIM AND SCOPE
The Karbala Journal of Medicine, the official journal of the College of Medicine of the University of Kerbala, is an open-access, double-blind peer-reviewed medical journal. It is dedicated to publishing studies on various aspects of medicine. Coverage includes internal medicine, medical microbiology and immunology, pathology, pediatrics, surgery, medical nanotechnology, pharmaceutical sciences, biochemistry, physiology, epidemiology, gynecology and obstetrics, radiology, dentistry, nursing, and other medical studies. All are welcome to receive through this journal. The journal does not publish articles in any field other than medicine.
INSTRUCTURE TO AUTHOR (S)
Authors are asked to read the following instructions carefully. All types of manuscripts must:
- Be written in excellent English, in a way that is clear and easy to understand, precise, and concise.
- Provide new, interesting, and valid information that can improve clinical care or guide future research.
- The author(s) stated shall be solely responsible for this work.
- Has not been previously published elsewhere and is not currently under consideration by another journal.
MANUSCRIPTS TYPES
Materials reviewed for publication in The KARBALA JOURNAL OF MEDICINE include the following:
Research articles
Original clinical or laboratory investigations of clinical subjects should be reported. The material should be presented as concisely as possible.
Review articles
The Karbala Journal of Medicine considers reviews for publication. Reviews should document and synthesize current information on timely subjects.
Case reports
A case report should describe a new disease or confirmation of a rare or new disease; a new insight into pathogenesis, etiology, diagnosis, or treatment; or a new finding associated with a currently known disease.
Letter to Editor
Editorials will present the opinions of leaders in all subjects of medicine.
CHECKLIST BEFORE SUBMISSION
Before submitting your submission to the journal for review, use this list to make sure it's perfect.
Uploaded Files:
Mandatory: The following files must be prepared by the author for the successful submission of the manuscript on the system:
- Manuscript with author information
- Anonymized Manuscript
- Title page
Optional: Other files such as figures, cover letters, and others can also be uploaded.
The author can also check the following categories:
1- The title page must include:
- Type of manuscript
- Title of article
- Running title (short main words of the title)
- Name (s), academic degrees, and affiliations of the author (s).
- Name, address, telephone, and Fax number, ORCID, and e-mail address of the corresponding author
- Author contribution
2- Structural Abstract (Background, Methods, results, and Conclusion) with keywords. Word count should not exceed 250 words.
3- Main Text (double-spaced) includes:
Introduction with the aim of the study, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Statement of Declaration, References list, Tables, and the legends of figures (if the manuscript contains figures).
4- Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided.
5- Ethical approval in the method section
6- References: Double-spaced and prepared according to the Vancouver style used by this journal.
7- Including informed consent for study with humans in the Statement and Declaration section
8- Signed Copyright Status Form
Further considerations:
- The manuscript has been checked for spelling and grammar.
- It is important to cite every reference mentioned in the Reference List in the text and vice versa.
- Copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet) has been obtained with permission.
- Even if there are no competing interests to declare, the authors are still required to provide a statement of competing interests.
- The journal policies presented in this guide have been reviewed
IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS FOR AUTHOR (S) BEFORE BEGIN:
Copyright
Submissions considered for publication in KARBALA JOURNAL OF MEDICINE are received on the understanding that they have not been accepted for publication elsewhere and that all authors agree to the submission. The journal requires approval of manuscript submission by all authors, and sending a signed cover letter constitutes submission approval. Manuscripts will not receive a final decision until a completed Copyright Status Form has been received. Copyright Status Form (download here) should be uploaded along with the submission of the article.
As soon as the article is published, the author is to have considered transferring his right to the publisher. This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information under International Copyright Law. All concepts, ideas, comments, manuscripts, illustrations, and all other materials disclosed or offered to the College of Medicine at the University of Kerbala in connection with this Journal are submitted without any restrictions or expectation of confidentiality. The College of Medicine shall have no financial or other obligations to you when you do not submit such information, nor shall you assert any proprietary or moral right of any kind of concerning such submissions. The College of Medicine, University of Kerbala shall have the right to use, publish, reproduce, transmit, download, upload post, display, or otherwise distribute your submissions in any manner without notice or compensation to you.
LICENSE
The Karbala Journal of Medicine is an open-access. All article components (text, images, tables, etc.) have agreed to be bound by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License (CC-BY 4.0).
Plagiarism
All articles submitted to the Karbala Journal of Medicine will be checked for plagiarism. The plagiarism check is the second step after the editor-in-chief assigns the article. Another check will be by any editorial board member, reviewer, editor, etc., in any stage of the article process- before or after acceptance, during editing, or at a page proof stage. We will alert the same to the author(s) and will ask them to rewrite the content or cite the references from where the content has been taken. If more than 20% of the paper is plagiarized- the article may be rejected and the same is notified to the author.
Ethics
Investigations on human subjects should conform to accepted ethical standards. Fully informed consent should be obtained and noted in the manuscript. For all manuscripts dealing with experimental work involving human subjects, specify that informed consent was obtained following a full explanation of the procedure(s) undertaken. Patients should be referred to by number; do not use real names or initials. Also, the design of special scientific research in human diseases or animal experiments should be approved by the ethical committee of the institution or conform to guidelines on animal care and use currently applied in the country of origin.
Declaration of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in scientific writing
The guidance provided is solely focused on the writing process, and not on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to analyze and draw insights from data as part of the research process. Authors should only use generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in their writing process to enhance readability and language. To apply the technology effectively, it is necessary to have human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can produce authoritative-sounding output that may be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. It is not appropriate to list AI or AI-assisted technologies as authors or co-authors or cite them as authors.
By following the instructions below, authors must disclose the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in their manuscripts. A statement will be included in the published work. It should be noted that authors are the ones who ultimately hold themselves responsible and accountable for the contents of their work.
Disclosure instructions
The use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies during writing process should be disclosed by authors by including a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. It is necessary to place the statement in a new section called 'Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process'
Statement is:
[named tool/service] was utilized by the author(s) for [purpose] during the preparation of this work. Using this tool/service allowed the author(s) to review and edit the content as needed and take full responsibility for the publication's content.
The use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, and references is not covered by this declaration. Adding a statement is unnecessary if there is nothing to reveal.
POLICIES ON PUBLISHING ETHICS
The Karbala Journal of Medicine demands and maintains ethical publication practices in all its activities. We will investigate any potential breaches of the policies detailed here as per the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. Contact the editorial office for further details or to raise any issues and concerns.
Authorship
The list of authors should accurately reflect who carried out the research and who wrote the article.
The paper should make it clear who carried out the research and who wrote the publication. Following the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), to be regarded as an author of a publication, one must have
- made substantial contributions to the conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
- drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content;
- given final approval of the version to be published; and
- taken responsibility for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and
All and only those who meet the criteria above may be regarded as authors of a submission and all such authors must be listed as such in the publication.
Changes to authorship
Before submitting their manuscript, authors should carefully consider the list and order of authors and provide the final list of authors at the time of initial submission. Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript is accepted and only if approved by the journal editor. In order to request a change in the author list, the Editor must first receive a reason from the author and written confirmation (by email or letter) from all authors agreeing to either the addition, removal, or rearrangement. Confirmation from the author who is being added or removed is necessary in the case of author addition or removal.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the editor consider adding, deleting, or rearranging authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, the manuscript will be put on hold. Even if the editor wants to make changes, author changes are not possible after the manuscript is published.
Competing Interests
All authors, referees, and editors must declare any conflicting or competing interests relating to a given submission.
Competing interests are defined as those that, through their potential influence on behavior or content or from a perception of such potential influences, could undermine the objectivity, integrity, or perceived value of a publication.
They may include:
- Any recent, current, and anticipated membership, employment, or source of funding (including personal financial interests) relating to any organization that may gain or lose financially through publication.
- Having a personal or professional relationship with any of the
- Having recently been a supervisor, mentor, mentee, close collaborator, or joint grant holder with any of the authors.
Referees should declare their competing interests before agreeing to review a submission. It is a discretionary matter for the editor to decide whether to proceed with a referee who has declared a potential competing interest.
If an editor has a competing or conflicting interest that would interfere with any editorial decisions for a particular submission, they should notify the editorial office who will assign an alternative editor.
Research Standards
The Karbala Journal of Medicine is committed to ensuring that sufficient standards of research conduct are met at all stages of publication. Breaches of these standards include:
- Falsification
- The fabrication or manipulation (including selective omission) of data, research materials, equipment, or processes, such that the research or the reporting of other research is not accurately represented.
- Plagiarism.
As defined by the Office of Research Integrity:
Plagiarism includes both the theft or misappropriation of intellectual property and the substantial unattributed textual copying of another's work. It does not include authorship or credit disputes. The theft or misappropriation of intellectual property includes the unauthorized use of ideas or unique methods obtained by a privileged communication, such as a grant or manuscript review.
The standards of research conduct are not breached by honest errors or differences of opinion.
If an editor suspects that misconduct has occurred they will report it to the editor-‐in-‐chief. The editors will then assess the available evidence and, if the evidence of misconduct is compelling, they will request a response from the authors. In cases of dual submission, the other publishers may be contacted. If plagiarism or dual publication is detected after a submission has been published by College Publications, then suitable announcements or retractions will be made in accordance with the COPE guidelines on retraction.
The Karbala Journal of Medicine only considers submissions that have not been published or are not to be published elsewhere. This includes sections of text in otherwise original manuscripts which are copied verbatim from other works. This does not include:
- Abstracts and summaries of the research in question which may have been published
- Conference presentations that omit a significant amount of the submitted research, or unrefereed manuscripts posted on preprint servers such as arXiv.
- Material from a PhD thesis or other work published internally to an academic
- Minor, unavoidable, overlaps with previous publications especially in the use of standard terminology, definitions, or exposition.
In all these cases, the existence of these prior publications, or publications being considered elsewhere, must be made clear to the editorial office and in the body of the submission.
Editorial Standards
The content of a publication is entirely independent of The Karbala Journal of Medicine´s views on any scientific or policy issues. The editors’ decisions are independent, and final and will not be influenced in any way by College Publications.
Clinical trial results
As per the ICMJE position, results posted in the same clinical trials registry where the primary registration resides will not be considered before publication when the results of such trials are presented in a brief structured abstract or table, of less than 500 words. Disclosure of results in other circumstances (such as investor meetings) is discouraged and may jeopardize the manuscript's consideration. It is important for authors to disclose all postings in registries of results related to the same or closely related work.
Peer review
The Karbala Journal of Medicine requires editors to do all they can to ensure the peer review process is fair without bias.
Submissions to The Karbala Journal of Medicine are generally peer-reviewed in a single-‐blind fashion (author names are not concealed, but referee names are).
If discussions between an author, editor, and referee have taken place in confidence they will remain in confidence unless explicit consent has been given by all parties or there are exceptional circumstances.
Editors or board members are never involved in editorial decisions about their own work and in these cases, papers will be referred to other editors or the editor-‐in-‐chief.
The Karbala Journal of Medicine does not tolerate abusive behavior or correspondence towards either its staff or academic editors. Any author, editor, or referee who engages in abusive behavior or correspondence relating to a submission will be withdrawn from the publication process. In the case of an author, their submission will no longer be considered, in the case of an editor or referee, their services will no longer be solicited. In all cases, future submissions from an individual in breach of this policy will be considered only at the discretion of the editor-in-chief.
Referees, editors, or other individuals privy to the work an author submits for publication must treat it in confidence until it has been published. Cases of referees who incorporate any work entrusted to them for review purposes into their own work without express permission will be treated as cases of plagiarism.
Authors may incorporate the content of any reviews into their work but must do so only with suitable permissions and acknowledgments.
Authors may appeal editorial decisions by submitting a written statement to the editorial office. This will be passed to the editor-‐in-‐chief who may consider inviting comments from additional referees or an alternative editor as appropriate.
Studies in humans and animals
Studies in humans
Work that involves the use of human subjects should be carried out in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects.
Manuscripts should follow the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals and aim to be representative of human populations in terms of sex, age, and ethnicity. Sex and gender terms should be used correctly, as outlined by WHO (World Health Organization).
Manuscripts must include a statement that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and have been approved by the appropriate institutional committee(s). The statement should contain the date and reference number of the ethical approval(s) obtained.
Manuscripts must also include a statement that the privacy rights of human subjects have been observed and that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects.
Studies in animals
All animal experiments should comply with ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) guidelines.
Studies should be carried out in accordance with Guidance on the operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and associated guidelines, EU Directive 2010/63 for the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, or the NIH (National Research Council) Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (PDF) or those of an equivalent internationally recognized body.
The sex of animals, and where appropriate, the influence (or association) of sex on the results of the study must be indicated and a statement included in your manuscript that such guidelines as listed above have been followed.
Language
All contributions should be written in English. Prior to submission, manuscripts prepared by authors whose native language is not English should be edited for proper spelling, grammar, and syntax by a professional editor or colleague fluent in English. Spelling should be American English. In general, manuscripts should be prepared according 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 www.icmje.org. Manuscript should be as concise and clear as possible. Manuscripts not following Instructions to Authors will be returned to the authors.
Cover letter.
A cover letter, in which the authors certify that the work submitted to the Karbala Journal of Medicine has not been published elsewhere, in any form, and that it is not being submitted simultaneously to another journal, should accompany the manuscript. A Copyright Status Form (see next page) signed by all authors must accompany each manuscript.
SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT
Submit of new manuscript via this link:
https://www2.cloud.editorialmanager.com/karbalajm/default2.aspx
PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPT
Manuscripts should be submitted with text and tables, preferably in a recent Word or Word Perfect for Windows format. The lines of the text are double-spaced. The line number is mandatory for the whole manuscript. The article should be submitted electronically with no need to send a hard copy. Copyright Status Form (download here) should be uploaded along with the submission of the article.
Manuscripts should be clearly in double spacing on one side of good quality A4 paper (30 x 21 cm), using 2.5 cm margins. Pages should be numbered consequently in the top right-hand corner, commencing with the Title Page and including those containing Acknowledgements, References, Tables, and Figures.
Preparation of Manuscript
The manuscript should be arranged as follows, with each section beginning on a separate page, except in the category of Rapid communications. You can use the template file to assist your preparation (Template).
Title page.
The category of manuscripts (as listed above) should appear on the title page. The title on the title page should contain no more than 80 letters and spaces. A running title should be supplied with no more than 40 letters and spaces. Each author’s first and last name, as well as a middle initial, highest academic degree, name of the department(s) and institutions to which the work should be attributed, and address, should appear.
Corresponding Author: Specify who will handle correspondence throughout both the refereeing and publication phases, as well as after publication. The author to whom communications will be directed should be designated and his or her telephone and FAX number and E-mail addresses (obligatory for submission) be provided.
Author contributions
Maintaining transparency involves encouraging corresponding authors to provide co-author contributions to the manuscript using their relevant CRediT roles from the CRediT taxonomy
Author contributions should be on the title page, not the anonymized manuscript. The first letters of one or more than one author are included in each category. The seven main categories within the author's contributions are: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing, Resource, Supervision., and writing.
Example:.
Conceptualization: A.A.S., and M.S.N., Methodology: A.A.S., Formal analysis and investigation: A.A.S., R.M.M., and M.S.N., Resource: A.A.S., Supervision: R.M.M., and M.S.N., Writing: A.A.S.,
Abstract
The abstract should be structured to background, objectives, method, result, and conclusion. No longer than 250 words for full-length articles (origin article and review) and commensurately shorter for brief communications and case reports. Abstracts should summarize the problem addressed, the investigational approach, results, and relevant conclusions. The abstract for the origin article should be structured into Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. A structured abstract is not required for the review article.
Keywords
No more than seven keywords that will assist the indexer in cross-indexing the article should be supplied. It is recommended that authors consult the medical subject heading from Index Medicus.
Main text
The text of observational and experimental articles is usually divided into sections with headings Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion. Long articles may need subheadings within some sections.
Introduction: It should provide an adequate background and the purpose of the article and the rationale for the study or observation should be summarized in an introductory paragraph. It is preferable to include the aim of the study at the end of the introduction.
Materials and Methods: Provide sufficient details to allow an independent researcher to reproduce the work. It is important to summarize and indicate methods that have already been published with a reference. Use quotation marks and cite the source when quoting a previously published method. Describe any modifications made to existing methods as well.
The study deals with patients must include:
- The study design and patient information (age, sex, and disease).
- The geographical location and date of the study performed.
- Inclusions and exclusions criteria.
- Ethical approval number and date.
If you use biological material (plants, fungi, or lichen) to make a potentially beneficial component, it is important to provide the scientific name of the material (genus, species, authority citation), as well as the date (month and year) and the location of the collection. It is important to provide detailed information about the extraction process from the biological material, including the solvent used, raw material, and critical experimental parameters.
Results should be presented in a logical sequence in the text. Tables and figures should not include material appropriate to the discussion.
Discussion: The new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions should be emphasized, without repeating data in detail. This section should consider the implications of the finding and their limitations.
Conclusions: It line with the goals of the study, and relates the observations to other relevant studies. New hypotheses and recommendations, when appropriate, may be included.
Acknowledgment: It should be made only to persons who have made genuine contributions and who endorse the data and conclusions.
Statements and Declarations
The following statements should be included under the heading "Statements and Declarations" before the reference list for inclusion in the published paper. Missing relevant declarations will be returned as incomplete.
Funding: Authors are required to disclose financial or non-financial support that is directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication.
Conflict of interest:
The author is obligated to state that they have commercial or similar relationships with the products or companies mentioned in or related to the subject matter of the article being submitted. Any circumstance that prevents the independent preparation or publishing of a manuscript, such as professional or financial gain, personal or academic relationships or competition, religious, philosophical, or political beliefs, or any other factor, may be considered a potential conflict of interest.
If there is no conflict, the authors should state:
̋The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest̏.
Ethical approval:
Authors must provide a statement confirming that the study was approved by the appropriate institution when reporting a study that involved human or animal participants, and their data, or biological material. Guarantee that the study was performed in conformity with the ethical standards established in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its subsequent amendments or equivalent ethical standards. If the research was not conducted according to the Helsinki Declaration or comparable standards, the authors must provide an explanation for their approach and demonstrate that an independent ethics committee or institutional review board has explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. If a study was granted an exemption from requiring ethics approval, this should also be detailed in the manuscript (including the reasons for the exemption).
Patient concert:
The rights of every individual are not to be violated. In studies, individuals have the option to decide what happens to the identifiable personal data gathered, to what they say during a study or interview as well as to any photograph that was taken. This is particularly relevant when it comes to images of vulnerable individuals (e.g. minors, patients, refugees, etc.) or the use of images in sensitive settings. Authors must obtain written consent before including images in many instances.
References
Citation
Reference citations in the text should be identified by numbers in square brackets. Make sure that all references mentioned in the text are included in the reference list (and vice versa). The reference list excludes unpublished results and personal communications, but they may be included in the text. The reference list should include these references in the same standard reference style as the journal and replace the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'.
Some examples:
- Therapy starts from oral [4].
- This result was later contradicted by Waleem and Lwees [5-6].
- Such type of infection has been widely studied [1-6, 9].
Reference list
Manuscripts should be prepared according to biomedical journals″ published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in Vancouver style, which is required to prepare a reference list. British Colombia, in 1979, and its last update in February 2006, available on the website www.icmje.org. Manuscript should be as concise and clear as possible. Manuscripts not following Instructions to Authors will be returned to the authors. Only works that are cited in the text should be included in the reference list. The entries in the list should be numbered consecutively. Abbreviate titles of the journals according to Index Medicus. Unpublished data and personal communications should be given in round parentheses in the text and not as references. List all authors or editors, but if the number exceeds six, give three followed by et al. Examples of correct reference format:
Standard journal articles:
- Lötsch F, Auer-Hackenberg L, Groger M, Rehman K, Morrison V, Holmes E, et. al, Adherence of patients to long-term medication: a cross-sectional study of antihypertensive regimens in Austria. Wiener klinische Wochenschrift. 2015 May 1;127:379-84.
- Alnasrawi ZI, Al Jobori SS, Nasrallah HA. Compliance of hypertensive patients to medication in AL-Imam AL-Hussein Medical City-Kerbala-2018. Kerbala Jorunal of Medicine. 2018;11:4048-58.
- Sakakihara Y. Medical care and support for children with mental retardation in school. No To Hattatsu 2000; 32: 237 - 241.
Article by DOI
Chou Y, Lai K, Chen D, Lin C, Chen H. Rheumatoid arthritis risk associated with periodontitis exposure: a nationwide, population-based cohort study. PLOS One. 2015; Oct. 1L 1-10. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139693.
Chapter in a book:
- Ashwal S. Postneural migration defects. In: Swaimann KF, Ashwal S (eds). Pediatric Neurology. Principles and Practice (3rd ed). Louis: Mosby, 1999, pp 268 - 275.
Books and other monographs: - Fenichel GM. Clinical Pediatric Neurology. A Signs and Symptoms Approach (3rd ed). Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1997.
Tables
Tables should be submitted as editable text, not images. Tables must be placed on separate pages at the end of the reference list. Data in tables should not be repeated in graphs. Tables should be double-spaced and numbered consequently corresponding to in-text citation.
A table title and number must be provided at the top. Headings should be concise and use Arabic numbers. Tables should be restricted to one manuscript page unless absolutely necessary. If a table continues past one page, repeat all sequences in the heads and the stub (left-hand) column. All non-standard abbreviations should also be explained in the footnotes. Footnotes should be indicated by *, **. Statistical measures such as mean±SD (standard deviation) should be identified in the headings.
Figures
Figures should be submitted in JPG or TIFF format and not within the manuscript. If illustrations already published elsewhere are used, the written permission of the author (s) and Publisher concerned must be included with the manuscript, and the origin source must be indicated in the legend of the illustration. The KARBALA JOURNAL OF MEDICINE will not be responsible for redrawing or improving submitted drawings. Color illustrations or photographs will be reproduced at a cost to the author. Recognizable photographs of patients must be accompanied by written permission for publication. Figures should be sent in at least 300 dpi and size 7792x4033.
Figure Legends and caption
Figure Legends should be typed (double-spaced) at the end of the manuscript. Make sure that each figure or illustration has a caption. Provide captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should have a concise title (not included in the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Minimize the text in the illustrations, but make sure to explain all symbols and abbreviations used.
Units and Abbreviations
The manuscript should be in metric units. Comply with rules and conventions that are accepted globally. Employ the international system of units (SI). In the case of other units mentioned, please provide their equivalent in SI.
Standard abbreviations may be used and should be defined in the Abstract and on the first mention in the text. In general, a term should not be abbreviated unless it is used repeatedly and the abbreviation is helpful to the reader.
Suggesting Reviewers
The author can submit the names and institutional email addresses of a minimum of two potential reviewers. If you want to suggest reviewers who have worked with you or have co-authored or collaborated with you in the last three years, you should not do so. Reviewers who may have competing interests with the authors are not invited to review by editors. Furthermore, to ensure scientific rigor and a broad and balanced assessment of the work, please suggest diverse reviewers from different countries/regions outside of the author group. Take into account other diversity traits, such as gender, race, ethnicity, career stage, and more. Lastly, it is important to avoid including any existing members of the journal's editorial team who the journal is already aware of. The editor has the freedom to choose whether or not to invite the reviewers you suggested.
Review and Selection of Papers
All articles will be critically evaluated by the editor and at least two members of the editorial or selected reviewers of the journal within 2 months, but longer delays are sometimes unavoidable.
AFTER ACCEPTANCE:
Proofs and Reprints
Proofs are sent to the corresponding author, together with a reprint order form approximately 6 weeks before the publication. Authors should retain a copy of the original manuscript. Only printer’s errors may be corrected; no changes in, or additions to, the edited manuscript will be allowed at this stage, unless in reply to specific editorial queries or requests. Corrected proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt, preferably by e-mail. If the publisher has not received a reply after 10 days, the assumption will be made that there are no errors to correct, and the article will be published after in-house correction. The reprint order form (with a number of reprints requested, invoice, and delivery address) should be returned with the corrected proof. Reprints may be ordered prior to publication on the form provided. The designated reviewing author will be responsible for ordering reprints for all authors. Reprints ordered after publication of the journal can be ordered at increased cost by special arrangement. A copy of the journal, in which the author’s article is published, will be provided free of charge to the corresponding author.
REVENUE SOURCES
The Karbala Journal of Medicine is a self-financed open-access journal, which is published in online form only. It is not supported by any agency, government, or any other source. Hence, the operation of journals is solely financed by the Article Processing Charges (APC) they receive from authors. This APC is required to meet operational expenses such as employees, salaries, internet services, electricity, etc.
All the costs of journal production, web hosting, content management system, database, online repository, peer-review, editing, and online publication are covered only through APC paid by authors.
These revenue sources do not influence the editorial decision by any means. The waived publication fee for authors from outside Iraq is covered by the journal but without influencing the editorial decision.
Page Charges
International author: No submission and publishing charges.
Iraqi author: A charge of 100,000 Iraqi dinars is required for the accepted manuscript in the Karbala Journal of Medicine. A plagiarism checking charge can be added.
Checklist for author
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 who do not adhere to these guidelines.
- The submission has not been previously published, nor has it been before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
- The submission file is in Open Office, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
- Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
- The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics and double-spaced, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end. 5
- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which are found in About the Journal.
- If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.