IJEHS is aimed to promote scientific communication among all investigators working on epidemiologic research worldwide. IJEHS, which benefits from an international editorial board, is published continuously. Contents include free-of-charge peer-reviewed research papers covering different aspects of epidemiology and health sciences research.

 

IJEHS publishes original clinical research articles, brief communications, review articles, case reports, editorials, and letters to the editor. Contributions in any of these formats are invited for editorial consideration following free-of-charge peer review by at least three experts in the field. Submissions should conform to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals.

 

Informed Consent: In the case of clinical trials informed consent should be obtained from the participants, or in the case of minors from the parents. This should be explicitly indicated in the published article at the very beginning of the method section. A sample of informed consent form should be sent to the IJEHS after acceptance.

 

Human and Animal Rights: When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed, were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or national) and with the last update of Helsinki Declaration (Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals). If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach, and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Authors are responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationships that might bias their work. It is recommended that the authors state explicitly whether potential conflicts do or do not exist, preferably in the manuscript on a conflict of interest notification page that follows the title page and if necessary, in a cover letter that accompanies the manuscript.

Unsolicited manuscripts will be reviewed for publication with the following understanding that:

  1. They represent original work
  2. The paper neither was published already nor is being under review elsewhere
  3. Submitted papers may be examined for the evidence of plagiarism using some automated plagiarism detection services
  4. In cases of suspected plagiarism, necessary actions as recommended by the COPE Guidelines will be followed

Abstract or press reports of presentations at scientific meetings will not be considered prior publication. The editorial will not enter an argument with authors about papers considered unsuitable for publication and their decision is final.

 

Manuscript

All manuscripts must be submitted online through www.ijehs.com. At first you register on the site and then you will receive your password in your email. You can change your password afterward. To submit online please follow on-screen instructions and steps to upload different parts of your article on the website. Authors are advised to write in clear and simple English and to have their articles checked by colleagues before submission. Each of the following sections should start on a separate page: abstract, text, references, tables, and figures legends. Indent the first line of each paragraph. Abbreviation (except for measurements) and acronyms are discouraged. Use metric units whenever practical. All pages should be numbered, with the title page as page number one. Use active rather than passive voice whenever possible. Avoid footnotes in the text. The right margins of the text should be ragged rather than justified. Information identifying authors should be omitted from the manuscript pages, except for the title page (see below). Acknowledgments should be listed on a separate page.

 

Submission Files

1- Title page file: main title, the complete names of all authors and their affiliations, phone numbers and emails, running title, corresponding author information.

2- The main submission file (with no authors’ names and affiliations) must be prepared in Microsoft Word document file format (*.doc or *.docx). Please do not use sophisticated formatting and page styles, as these lead to some problems in file processing. It is encouraged that references be prepared using EndNote style of IJEHS, please ensure to remove the reference manager links from the file before submission. Otherwise these references may not be visible under certain platforms. All tables must be present in the main submission file and they may not embed as graphics. The maximum percentage of self-reference is 15%.

3- All figures, pictures, graphics, or images must be submitted as supplementary files.

4- "Conflict of Interest Statement" form is signed by all authors and should download from Forms section and then fill in. Then send it to the journal after acceptance.

5- "Authorship Contribution Form"  is signed by the corresponding author and should download from Forms section and then fill in. Then send it to the journal after acceptance.

6- "Cover Letter" is signed by the corresponding author on behalf of all authors mentioning the originality of the article, not submit or publish somewhere else, and not having any conflict of interest. and should download from Forms section and then fill in. Then send it to the journal during the first submission.

 

Copyright Notice

IJEHS applies the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCAL) to all of its published papers. Under the CCAL, authors retain ownership of the copyright for their article, but authors allow anyone to download, reuse, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles in IJEHS, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.

 

Title page

The title page should include the main title, an abbreviated running title of 45 characters or fewer, a word count for the text, the full names and affiliations of each author, the name and complete address of the author to whom reprint requests or correspondence should be addressed, and if applicable, financial support information, including granting agency and grant number. The institutions listed should reflect the authors’ affiliations at the time that the work was done, rather than their present affiliation.

Abstract

An abstract should accompany each original article, review article. The abstract should be limited to 250 words for original or review articles and 100 words for brief communication or case reports. It should include the background, methods, results, and conclusion sections separately, except for review articles and case reports. It should describe the research purposes or motivation for the paper, the main findings or viewpoints, and central conclusions. It should be factual and give quantified findings in preference to descriptive language. It should contain no references or abbreviations. On the abstract page, authors should include a list of 3-6 keywords, which will be published with the paper and used for indexing. Keywords should conform to the Medical Subject Headings used in Index Medicus if possible.

Introduction

It should summarize the background and the rationale for the study, as well as aim(s), assumptions, and/or research questions. It should neither review the subject extensively nor should it have data or conclusion of the study.

 Methods

This section should include the exact method or observation or experiment (including the type of the study, design, sample, inclusion and exclusion criteria, instrumentation, validity and reliability of tools, and method of analysis). If an apparatus is used, its manufacturers' name and address should be given in parenthesis. If the method is established, give reference but if the method is new, give enough information so that another author can perform it. If a drug is used, its generic name, dose, and route of administration must be given. For patients, age, sex with mean age ± standard deviation must be given. The statistical method must be mentioned and specify any general computer program used. The info system used should be clearly mentioned. Ethical considerations must be addressed in the Materials and Methods section. 1) Please state that informed consent was obtained from all human adult participants and from the parents or legal guardians of minors. Include the name of the appropriate institutional review board that approved the project. 2) Indicate in the text that the maintenance and care of experimental animals comply with National Institutes of Health guidelines for the humane use of laboratory animals, or those of your Institute or agency.

 Results

It must be presented in the form of text, tables, and illustrations. The content of the tables should not be repeated in the text. Instead, a reference to the table number may be given. Long articles may need sub-headings within some sections (especially the Results and Discussion parts) to clarify their contents.

 Discussion

This section should emphasize the present findings and the variations or similarities with other work done in the field by other workers. The authors are advised to include a summary of findings related to study aim(s), interpretation of the findings, a clear and definite answers to the research questions, and suggestions for future studies. The detailed data should not be repeated in the discussion again. Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and in conclusions that follow from them.

 Conclusion

It must be answered whether the hypothesis mentioned in the article is true, false or no conclusions can be derived.

 Acknowledgment

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be covered in this section. It should include persons who provided technical help, writing assistance, and departmental head that only provided general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.

 References

The authors are responsible for the accuracy of all references. Please write references on the reference list according to Vancouver style, listed in a separate section following the text, double-spaced. The maximum percentage of self-reference is 15%.

Examples:

Petitti DB, Crooks VC, Buckwalter JG, Chiu V. Blood pressure levels before dementia. Arch Neurol. 2005; 62(1):112-6.

For book chapters, names and initials of all authors, the full title, place of publication, publisher, year of publication, and page number should be given.

Rojko JL, Hardy WD Jr. Feline leukemia virus and other retroviruses. In: Sherding RG, editor. The cat: diseases and clinical management. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1989. p. 229-332.

 For entire books:

Jenkins PF. Making sense of the chest x-ray: a hands-on guide. New York: Oxford University Press; 2005. 194 p.

For other kinds of citation sources please consult National Library of Medicine’s Citing Medicine

 

Tables

Tables should be typed double spaced, presented on separate pages after the references, and numbered in the order in which they are cited in the text. Table headers should be fully descriptive of the contents, and whenever possible should be comprehensible without reference to the text. Tables should supplement, not duplicate, the text. Use only horizontal rules.

 Figures, charts and images

During the initial submission, images may be sent in separate supplementary files or all in the main submission file. Each file (including main and supplementary files) must not be larger than 2 MB in size, otherwise it will not be uploaded. After manuscript acceptance each image must be prepared as a high-quality graphic file with high resolution suitable for print production. For the details of image file specifications please refer to the Pubmed Central documents. Failure to submit the required image format in time may cause delays in the publication of the accepted papers. Keep wording on images to a minimum, with explanations written in the legends. Legends should not be part of the image properly. Legends for figures should be placed at the end of the main submission file.

Other kinds of figures such as bar charts, histograms, scattergrams, and line graphs should be prepared using standard chart drawing software such as MS-Graph, or OpenOffice, and embedded in the main submission file. These figures must not be prepared as scanned images.

 Authors' Contribution

The type and extent of contribution of each author should be explicitly stated in the Authors' Contribution section of the manuscript. The form of "Authorship Contribution Form" must be filled and send to the journal after acceptance.

 Conflict of interest

The authors must identify any potential financial conflicts of interest before the review process begins. Declared conflict of interest will not automatically result in rejection of paper but the editors reserve the right to publish any declared conflict of interest alongside accepted articles. The following would generally be regarded as potential conflicts of interest:

  • Direct financial payment to an author for the research or manuscript production by the sponsor of a product or service evaluated in an article.
  • Ownership of shares by an author in the company sponsoring a product service evaluated in an article (or in a company sponsoring a competing product).
  • Personal consultant with companies or other organizations with a financial interest in the promotion of particular health care products and services.

"Conflict of Interest Statement" form is signed by all authors and should download from Forms section and then fill in. Then send it to the journal after acceptance.

 Content Policy

General original works are in priority, but content from different medical disciplines may be considered for publication, provided that the topic is not limited to a certain sub-specialty. Such papers may be better to be submitted to specialty or sub-specialty journals. Certain sub-specialty articles discussing inter-disciplinary topics may be considered for publication.

 Original Articles

Original articles should clearly describe the reason for undertaking the work, and present methods used and the results found in separate sections. Scientific interpretations based on the findings should be presented in a discussion section; a self-critical / examination of the findings is encouraged.

 Brief Communication

Brief Communications are treated like original articles, except that they should be limited to 1400 words, with an abstract of 150 words or fewer.

 Review Articles

A review article is an analysis and collection of the current state of the research on a topic. It is not an original article with new data but represents:

  • the main people working in a field
  • recent major advances and discoveries
  • significant gaps in the research
  • current debates
  • ideas of where research might go next

Review articles are usually invited by the Editor, although we will consider unsolicited material. All review articles, even if invited, undergo the same peer-review and editorial process as original research reports. These articles need an abstract. The text is limited to 4000 words, with a maximum of 6 tables and figures (total) and up to 150 references.

 

Case-report

A case-report can present the signs, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. It usually describes an unusual or novel occurrence and provides new ideas in medicine. Case-report may contain an extensive review of the relevant literature on the defined topic. In fact, a case-report is a rapid brief communication for the clinicians without enough time.

 A case-report may deal with one or more of these issues: Unusual observations, Adverse response to therapies, Unusual combination of conditions leading to confusion, Illustration of a new theory, Question regarding a current theory, Personal impact.

A case-report must include the following parts: an abstract, an introduction, a case, and a discussion.

The abstract must summarize the case, the addressed problem, and the message.

The introduction may give an overall overview of the problem that the case may address, citing relevant literature if it is necessary. The introduction generally ends with a single sentence describing the patient and the basic condition that he or she is suffering from.

Case section provides the details of the case in the following order: Patient description, Case history, Physical examination results, Results of pathological tests and other investigations, Treatment plan, Expected outcome of the treatment plan, and Actual outcome.

All the relevant details should be included, and unnecessary ones excluded.

Discussion section is the most important part of a case-report. This part will convince the journal that the case is suitable for publication. It must start by expanding on what has been said in the introduction, focusing on why the case is important and the addressed problem.

This is followed by a summary of the existing literature on the topic by describing the current theories and research findings on the key issue in the patient's condition.

Finally, the case-report should be connected to the current literature, by mentioning the message of the case-report, current beliefs about the problem, and how this reported evidence can add value to future clinical practice.

Conclusion section could end the case-report by a conclusion or with summary points. The conclusion should briefly give readers the key points covered in the case-report by giving suggestions and recommendations to clinicians, teachers, or researchers.

Informed consent is an ethical requirement for studies on humans; thus, before starting to write the case-report, take a written consent from the patient that will provide after acceptance. In case the patient is a minor, parental consent is required. For adults who are unable to consent to investigation or treatment, the consent of closest family members is required.

Remember not to mention any information that might reveal the identity of the patient. It is necessary to be careful with pictures and ensure that pictures of the affected area do not reveal the identity of the case.

 

Editorials

Unsolicited editorials will be reviewed for publication as short commentaries on topics of current interest to medical public health practitioners. Editorials should be 1,200 words or fewer.

 Letters to Editor

Letters to the editor on any topic of interest to the medical and public health community will be considered for publication. Letters should be double spaced and limited to 500 words.

 

Authors' Contribution

The type and extent of contribution of each author should be explicitly stated in the Authors' Contribution section of the manuscript. "Authorship Contribution Form" should also be filled in.

 Financial Support

A clear statement regarding the sources of financial support must be provided here.

 

Reviewer Recommendation

To proceed with the review of the submitted manuscript in time, authors have to introduce at least one international reviewers shortly after manuscript submission. Further processing of the submitted manuscript is suspended until the list of recommended reviewers is received by the editorial office.

As a potential source for selecting reviewers you may find good reviewers from among the references of your article.

Criteria of recommended reviewers

  • Recommended reviewers must not have past or present works in common with any of the authors in your manuscript.
  • They must not be selected from within your department and faculty.
  • They should have the necessary background to review and comment on your manuscript

 

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

 

Additional information

 Proof Reading: A computer printout is sent to the corresponding author for proofreading before publication to avoid any mistakes. Corrections should be marked clearly and sent immediately to the Journal office.

 

Abbreviations and symbols: Use only standard abbre­viations. Avoid using them in the title and ab­stract. The full term for which an abbre­viation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a stan­dard unit of measurement.

 

Conflicts of interest: Authors must acknowledge and declare any sources of funding and potential conflicting interest, such as receiving funds or fees by, or holding stocks and shares in an organization that may profit or lose through publication of your paper. Declaring a competing interest will not lead to automatic rejection of the paper, but we would like to be made aware of it. If the author does not have any conflict of interests the following statement should be included: "No conflict of Interests has been declared by the authors"

 "Conflict of Interest Statement" form is signed by all authors and should download from Forms section and then fill in. Then send it to the journal after acceptance.

 

Page charges: There are no charges for publication in this Journal.

 

Peer review process: All manuscripts are confidential. They are peer-reviewed by at least 2 anonymous reviewers selected by the Editorial Board. The corresponding author is notified as soon as possible of the editor's decision to accept, reject, or require modifications. If the manuscript is completely acceptable according to the criteria set forth in these instructions, it is scheduled for the next available issue. The corresponding author will be supplied with 2 free issues.

 

Disposal of material: Once published, all copies of the manuscript, correspondence, and artwork will be held for 6 months before disposal.

 

The Final Checklist

 The authors must ensure that before submitting the manuscript for publication, they have taken care of the following:

  1. The title page should contain the title, name of the author/co-authors, their qualifications, designation & institutions they are affiliated with a mailing address for future correspondence, E-mail address, Phone & Fax number.

  2. Abstract in structured format up to 250 words.

  3. References mentioned as stated in the Instruction to Authors section.

  4. Tables should be typed on separate pages.

  5. Make sure for Headings of Tables, their numbers and captions of illustrations. Don’t repeat the information in tables if it is covered in the text.

  6. Photographs/illustrations along with their captions.

  7. Cover letter signed by the corresponding author on behalf of all authors.

  8. Disclosure regarding source of funding and conflict of interest if any besides approval of the study from respective Ethics Committee/Institution Review Board.

 

The Founding Editor-in-Chief,

Dr. Masoud Amiri, Ph.D.

International Journal of Epidemiology and Health Sciences (IJEHS)

URL: www.ijehs.com