Guide for Authors

 

 

 

Author Guidelines 

 

 

     1.   Submission

     2.   Aims and Scope

     3.   Manuscript Categories and Requirements

     4.   Preparing Your Submission

     5.  Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations

     6.   Publication Process after Acceptance

     7.   Editorial Office Contact Details 

 

         1. Submission

Thank you for your interest in the Evidence Based Care Journal. Note that submission implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium. See Cover letter in Section 4 Preparing Your Submission for further details.

Once you have prepared your submission in accordance with the guidelines, manuscript should be submitted online at http://ebcj.mums.ac.ir/ 

Registration and login are required to submit items online and to check the status of current submissions.

The time period between conducting research and manuscript submission shall not exceed 5 years.

For help with submissions, please contact: EBCJ@mums.ac.ir

We look forward to your submission.

 

     2. Aims and Scope

 The Evidence Based Care Journal (EBCJ) is an international, peer reviewed, scientific journal that seeks to promote the development and exchange of knowledge that is directly relevant to all spheres of patient care. The primary aim is to promote a high standard of clinically related scholarship which advances and supports patient care in practice. The Journal also aims to promote the international exchange of ideas and experience that draws from the different cultures in which practice takes place. Further, EBCJ seeks to enrich insight into clinical needs and the implications for patient care intervention and models of service delivery. Emphasis is placed on clinical practicality of research findings and strength of study design.

EBCJ is essential reading for anyone involved in healthcare professions, whether clinicians, researchers, educators, managers, policy makers, or students. Contributions are welcomed from other health professionals on issues that have a direct impact on patient care.

  •     Topics include but are not limited to:
    • Development of clinical research, evaluation, evidence-based practice and scientific enquiry;
    • Patient and family experiences of health and health care; illness and recovery;
    • Research to enhance patient care quality and reduce harm to patients;
    • The nature of patient care needs, intervention, social interaction and models of service delivery;
    • Exploration of organizational or systemic factors that enhance or impede the provision of effective, high-quality patient care;
    • Application and dissemination of clinical knowledge and theory;
    •Role development and inter-disciplinary working, exploring the scope and changing boundaries clinical care
  • Cultural comparisons and evaluations of patient care in different health sectors, social and geographical settings.
 

  3.MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES AND REQUIREMENTS

        i. Original Qualitative and Quantitative Articles

Pilot studies are not suitable for publication as original articles.
Word limit: 3,500 words maximum (quotations are included in the overall word count of articles, and abstract and references are excluded).
Abstract: 250 words maximum, and structured under the sub-headings: Background (stating what is already known about this topic); Aim; Methods (for both qualitative and quantitative studies state n); Results (report p values, statistical parameters); Implications for Practice

Main text structure: Introduction (putting the paper in context - policy, practice or research and literature); Methods (design, data collection and analysis); Ethical Considerations; Results; Discussion; Implications for Practice, Acknowledgments, Conflict of interest.
References: 40 maximum; all references must be available in English

Inserts (tables or figures): Maximum 4. Please put CONSORT Flow Chart for interventional researches. Please insert tables and figures at the end of manuscript main file after refrencess. 

Note: Review Articles References: 50 Maximum, Descriptive Articles References: 35 Maximum

ii. Case Report

Case reports on any area of research relevant to patient care are welcomed.
Abstract: 250 words maximum, and structured under the sub-headings: Background (stating what is already known about this topic); Case presentation; Implications for Practice

Main text structure: Introduction (putting the paper in context - policy, practice or research and literature); Case presentation; Discussion; Implications for Practice.

Case Presentation, presenting all of the relevant information about the patient in the case being reported not the disease. Discussion of presented care not the former cases. Case reports should contain some Clinical lessons and Key points for Patient care.

iii. Letter to the editor

  Word limit: 500 words maximum.
  With regard to publications or within journal aims and scope, useful innovations on    Patient Care; if          criticized or reviewed before, the author response should be attached while submitting. The journal is        authorized to publish these letters

iv. Short Report

Word limit: 2,000 words maximum

Abstract: 150 words maximum, a continuous, organized paragraph, unstructured but covering: Background; Aim; Methods; Results; Implications for Practice

Main text structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Implications for Practice, Acknowledgments, Conflict of interest.

Inserts (tables or figures): Maximum 2. Please insert tables at the end of manuscript main file after refrencess. 

References: Maximum 20  

 

  4. PREPARING YOUR SUBMISSION 

              Cover Letters (Download Cover Letter Here) & (Cover Letter Sample Here)

All manuscripts submitted to Evidence Based Care Journal should include a cover letter stating on behalf of all the authors that the work has not been published and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Any previous submission of the work, in any form, must be declared. If the study that is being submitted is similar in any way to another study previously submitted/published or is part of multiple studies on the same topic, a brief sentence explaining how the manuscript differs and that there is no identical material should be stated in the cover letter upon submission. Manuscripts undergo a similarity check when submitted and your article may be returned to you, if the above has not been adhered to.

It is mandatory to report the organization approving the project, project assigned number, the full name of the approved project

Furthermore, it is mandatory for clinical trial studies within registry code.

Note: Cover Letter MUST be signed by all authors.

         Authorship 

 For details on eligibility for author listing, please refer to the journal’s Authorship policy outlined in the          Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations section.  

         Acknowledgments  

Contributions from individuals who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in an Acknowledgments section. Financial and material support should also be mentioned. Thanks to anonymous reviewers are not appropriate. 

        Conflict of Interest Statement  

Authors will be asked to provide a conflict of interest statement during the submission process. See ‘Conflict of Interest’ section in Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations for details on what to include in this section. Authors should ensure they liaise with all co-authors to confirm agreement with the final statement.

        Parts of the Manuscript

All The manuscript should be submitted in separate files: title page; main text file; figures.

Title Page:(Download Title Page Sample Here)

The title page should be submitted separately to the main file and contain:
i. A short informative title that contains the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations 
ii. A short running title of less than 40 characters
iii. The full names of the authors
iv. The authors’ institutional affiliations at which the work was carried out
v. Corresponding author’s contact email address and telephone number

Main Text File

The main text file should be presented in the following order:

i. Title, abstract and key words;
ii. Main text;
iii. References;
iv. Tables and figures

 

Title
The title must contain both a descriptive and concise title of the paper. Country names are only to be included in titles where it is made clear the content is being compared and contrasted to the International arena.

Keywords
Please provide up to 6 keywords When selecting keywords, Authors should consider how readers will search for their articles. Keywords should be taken from those recommended by the US National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser list at https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/.

Main Text

• As papers are double-blind peer reviewed, the main text file should not include any information that might identify the authors.
• All articles must be relevant to an international audience. Authors should explain policies, practices and terms that are specific to a particular country or region; outline the relevance of the paper to the subject field internationally and also its transferability into other care settings, cultures or health care specialities; placed discussions within an international context any papers exploring focussed cultural or other specific issues, and that clinical issues are put into context to other geographical regions and cultural settings.
• The journal uses British/US spelling; however, authors may submit using either option, as spelling of accepted papers is converted during the production process.
• Footnotes to the text are not allowed and any such material should be incorporated into the text as parenthetical matter.

References

References should be prepared according to the Vancouver (6th edition) recommended by the International Committee of Biomedical Journal Editors. This means in text citations should follow the numerical method whereby number for the source should appear in the text, for example, (1). Each reference you cite in the text of your document is identified by a consecutive number, with a full description of each reference in a numbered list at the end.

For more information about Vancouver referencing style, please refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_system

 

Tables and Figures

Tables and Figures may contain the following (Please insert tables at the end of manuscript main file after refrencess.):

i. Tables (each table complete with title and footnotes);
ii. Figure legends;
iii. Appendices (if relevant).

Tables
Tables should be self-contained and complement. They should be supplied as editable files, not pasted as images. Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the table, legend, and footnotes must be understandable w
ithout reference to the text. All abbreviations must be incorporated into the table as parenthetical matter. Please insert tables at the end of manuscript main file after refrencess. 

If , more than one type of statistical test used in each table it should be defined in footnotes. *, **, *** should be reserved for type of statistical test.

Figure Legends
Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the figure and its legend must be understandable without reference to the text. Include definitions of any symbols used and define/explain all abbreviations and units of measurement.

Figures
Although we encourage authors to send us the highest-quality figures possible, for peer-review purposes we are happy to accept a wide variety of formats, sizes, and resolutions.
Figures submitted in colour will be reproduced in colour online. Please note, however, that it is preferable that line figures (e.g. graphs and charts) are supplied in black and white so that they are legible if printed by a reader in black and white.

General Style Points
The following points provide general advice on formatting and style.
• Abbreviations: In general, terms should not be abbreviated unless they are used repeatedly and the abbreviation is helpful to the reader. Initially, use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation only.
• Numbers: numbers under 10 are spelt out, except for: measurements with a unit (8mmol/l); age (6 weeks old), or lists with other numbers (11 dogs, 9 cats, 4 gerbils). editorial members, reviewers and authors must confirm and obey rules defined by ICMJE.

 

5.EDITORIAL POLICIES AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

          Editorial Review and Acceptance

The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to our readership. Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are double-blind peer reviewed. Papers will only be sent to review if the Editor-in-Chief determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements.

         Clinical Trial Registration

We require that clinical trials are prospectively registered in a publicly accessible database and clinical trial registration numbers should be included in all papers that report their results. Please include the name of the trial register and your clinical trial registration number in the Commitment File and in manuscript acknowledgment.

         Conflict of Interest

The journal requires that all authors disclose any potential sources of conflict of interest. Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclosed when directly relevant or directly related to the work that the authors describe in their manuscript. Potential sources of conflict of interest include, but are not limited to, patent or stock ownership, membership of a company board of directors, membership of an advisory board or committee for a company, and consultancy for or receipt of speaker's fees from a company. The existence of a conflict of interest does not preclude publication. If the authors have no conflict of interest to declare, they must also state this at submission. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to review this policy with all authors and collectively to disclose with the submission ALL pertinent commercial and other relationships.

         Funding

Authors should list all funding sources in the Acknowledgments section. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation.

         Authorship

The list of authors should accurately illustrate who contributed to the work and how. All those listed as authors should qualify for authorship according to the following criteria:
1. Have made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. Been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
3. Given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content; and
4. Agreed to be accountable 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 resolved.
Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in an Acknowledgments section (for example, to recognize contributions from people who provided technical help, collation of data, writing assistance, acquisition of funding, or a department chairperson who provided general support).
When submitting a manuscript authored by a group, the corresponding author should clearly indicate the preferred citation and identify all individual authors as well as the group name. Prior to submitting the article all authors should agree on the order in which their names will be listed in the manuscript.

         Publication Ethics

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Note this journal uses iThenticate’s CrossCheck software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Read our publishing Ethics Tips for Authors here. Please include the name of the Committee for Ethics in Biomedical Research and approved code in the manuscript acknowledgment (eg. Iran National Committee for Ethics in Biomedical Research).

 

 6.PUBLICATION PROCESS AFTER ACCEPTANCE

             Article Publication Charges and PROOFS

The review process in the Evidence Based Care Journal is free but once your paper is accepted and when it is typeset you will receive an email notification to download a PDF receipt for your article language editing, design and check of references. Its prices depend on article words counts and number of pages and tables and figures. You must pay it and send its receipt 24 hours from receiving email. Once your paper is typeset you will receive an email notification to download a PDF typeset page proof, associated forms and full instructions on how to correct and return the file.
Please note that you are responsible for all statements made in your work, including changes made during the editorial process and thus you must check your proofs carefully. Note that proofs should be returned 24 hours from receipt of first proof.

 

         ACCEPTED ARTICLES

The journal offers EBCJ Accepted Articles service for all manuscripts. This service ensures that accepted in press’ manuscripts are published online shortly after acceptance, prior to copy-editing or typesetting.                                                             

 7. EDITORIAL OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS

          For queries about submissions, please contact EBCJ@mums.ac.ir