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Published by
Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia

:: Guidelines for Author

Download the Guidelines for Author here [Download PDF].


The basic structure of a manuscript

Manuscript title

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Provide a context or background for the study (i.e. the nature of the problem and its significance). State the specific purpose or research objective of, or hypothesis tested by, the study or observation.

Methods

It should include only information that was available at the time the plan or protocol for the study was written; all information obtained during the conduct of the study belongs in the Results section.

Selection and description of participants: Describe your selection of the observational or experimental participants (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population. The guiding principle should be clarity about how and why a study was done in a particular way.

Technical information: Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer’s name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the experiment. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods; provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration. Authors submitting review manuscripts should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesising data. These methods should also be summarised in the abstract.

Statistics: Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results.

Results

Present your results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations, giving the main or most important findings first. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasise or summarise only important observations. When data are summarised in the Results section, give numeric results not only as derivatives (for example, percentages) but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables.

Discussion

Emphasise the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. For experimental studies, it is useful to begin the discussion by summarising briefly the main findings, then explore possible mechanisms or explanations for these findings, compare and contrast the results with other relevant studies, state the limitations of the study, and explore the implications of the findings for future research and for clinical practice. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed.

Conclusion

In this section, state the main conclusion of the study in the context of the formulated problem.

References

References must be numbered consecutively as they are cited. References first cited in a table or figure legend should be numbered so they will be in sequence with references cited in the text at the point where the table or figure is first mentioned. List all citation authors when there are six or fewer; when there are seven or more, list the first six, followed by et al.

Appendix

If there is more than one appendix, please label each one with a number (e.g. Appendix 1, Appendix 2).

Supplementary Material

  • must be cited in the text of the main manuscript.
  • will be available online only and will not be copyedited.
  • style and formatting of supplementary material should be consistent with that of the manuscript.
  • should be formatted to function on any internet browser.

What information to include in a Title Page file

Authors’ names and affiliations

Acknowledgements

Ethics of Study

Provide a ‘Compliance with Ethical Standards’ statement (for research involving human and/or animal subjects)

Conflict of Interest

Authors should include a Conflicts of Interest declaration in their manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest are situations that could be perceived to exert an undue influence on an author’s presentation of their work. They may include, but are not limited to, financial, professional, contractual or personal relationships or situations.

Conflicts of Interest do not necessarily mean that an author’s work has been compromised. Authors should declare any real or perceived Conflicts of Interest in order to be transparent about the context of their work.

If the manuscript has multiple authors, the author submitting the manuscript must include Conflicts of Interest declarations relevant to all contributing authors.

Funds

Authors’ Contributions

Correspondence

:: Forms

Agreement Form. The form must be submitted via email. Manuscripts will ONLY be processed when we receive this form. All authors and co-authors are required to read and sign the Authorship
[Download Authorship Agreement Form]

For manuscripts containing pictures of identifiable patients, the Patient Consent Form must be submitted as well.
[Download Patient Consent Form]

License to Publish (LTP) form
[Download License to Publish]


:: New Submission Information

All new submissions of manuscripts, except solicited, are to be submitted to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/maljms. For first time users, authors are required to register and create accounts for manuscript submission and future access. This online submission system will streamline the review process as well as the final decision process.

Checklist of New Submission Preparation

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 failed to submit these required documents.

  1. Main manuscript
  2. Title page
  3. Tables
  4. Figures
  5. Videos (for video manuscript)
  6. Authorship Agreement Form
  7. Patient consent Form (if applicable)

Checklist of Submission Preparation for Publication

Accepted manuscripts for publication are to be submitted to mjms.usm@gmail.com together with the following documents:

  1. Cleaned language-edited main manuscript
  2. Updated title page
  3. Revised tables
  4. Revised figures
  5. Updated videos (for video manuscript)
  6. Updated Authorship Agreement Form
  7. Patient Consent Form (if applicable)
  8. License to Publish Form
  9. Proof of language editing service