Instructions for Authors
Medical Science and Technology is an international, peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes original articles in basic, clinical, and related biomedical disciplines such as epidemiology, public health, and medical technology.
Medical Science and Technology is issued on a continuous basis as a primary electronic journal. Print copies can be ordered on demand on a monthly basis 12 times per year. Medical Science and Technology is internationally indexed in .
Medical Science and Technology editors endorse the principles embodied in the Declaration of Helsinki and expect that all investigations involving humans will have been performed in accordance with these principles. All human studies must be approved by the investigator's Institutional Review Board.
Patients confidentiality. Changing the details of patients to disguise them is a form of data alteration. However, authors of clinical papers are obliged to ensure patient privacy rights. Only clinically or scientifically important data are permitted for publication. Therefore, if it is possible to identify a patient from a case report, illustration, or paper Medical Science and Technology editors ask for written consent from the patient or their guardian to publish patient data, including photograms, prior to publication. The description of race, ethnicity, or culture of a study subject should occur only when it is believed to be of strong influence on the medical condition involved in the study. When categorizing by race, ethnicity, or culture, the terms should be as descriptive as possible and reflect how these groups were assigned.
Conflict of interest. Authors of research articles should disclose at the time of submission any financial arrangement they may have with a company whose product figures prominently in the submitted manuscript or with a company making a competing product. Such information will be held in confidence while the paper is under review and will not influence the editorial decision, but if the article is accepted for publication, the editors will usually disclose this information in the Authors section. Journal policy requires that reviewers, associate editors, editors, and senior editors reveal in a letter to the Editor-in-Chief any relationships that they have that could be construed as causing a conflict of interest with regard to a manuscript under review. The letter should include a statement of any financial relationships with commercial companies involved with a product under study.
Permissions. Materials taken from other sources must be accompanied by a written statement from both the author and publisher giving permission to the Journal for reproduction. Obtain permission in writing from at least one author of papers still in press, unpublished data, and personal communications.
Copyrights. Medical Science and Technology has adopted the Open Access publishing model. All articles are published under Creative Common Attribution-Noncommercial-No derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), allowing others to download articles and share them only if they credit the authors and the publisher, but without permission to change them in any way or use them commercially.
Disclaimer. Every effort is made by the Publisher and Editorial Board to see that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinion, or statement appear in the Medical Science and Technology. However, they wish to make it clear that the data and opinions appearing in the articles and advertisements herein are the responsibility of the contributor, sponsor, or advertiser concerned. Accordingly, the Publisher and the Editorial Board accept no liability whatsoever for the consequences of any such inaccurate of misleading data, opinion, or statement. Every effort is made to ensure that drug doses and other quantities are presented accurately. Nevertheless, readers are advised that methods and techniques involving drug usage and other treatments described in this Journal should only be followed in conjunction with the drug or treatment manufacturer's own published literature in the reader’s own country.
Editorial Board of Medical Science and Technology takes under consideration for publication original articles in basic biomedical sciences and clinical medicine and related disciplines with the understanding that neither the manuscript nor any part of its essential substance, tables, or figures have been published previously in print form or electronically and are not taken under consideration by any other publication or electronic medium. Copies of any closely related manuscripts should be submitted to the Editor along with the manuscript that is to be considered by the Journal. The Journal discourages the submission of more than one article dealing with related aspects of the same study.
Guidelines for submission in Medical Science and Technology are in accordance with Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (N Eng J Med, 1997; 336: 309-15). Text should be spaced one and a half with 12-point typeface. Margins should be 2.5 cm (1 inch) at top, bottom, right, and left. The manuscript should include: Title Page, Summary Page, Text Pages, References, Tables, Figures, Photographs, Units of Measurement, and Abbreviations and Symbols. The manuscript should include:
Title PageThe Title Page should include the following information: full names of all authors; name of the department and institution in which the work was done; affiliations of the authors; manuscript full title; running (short) title; full name, address, telephone, and/or fax number of the author responsible for manuscript preparation; e-mail address to speed contacts with authors; and source(s) of financial support in the form of grants (quote the number of the grant), equipment, drugs, etc.
The Abstract in structured form not exceeding 250 words should consist of four paragraphs labeled: Background, Material and Methods, Results, and Conclusion. Each summary section should begin in a new line and briefly describe, in the following order, the purpose of the study, how the investigation was performed, the most important results, and the principal conclusion that the authors draw from the results.
MeSH Keywords (3 to 6) or phrases should be written at the bottom of the Summary Page. Use our MeSH term search during submission.
The text of the article should be divided to seven paragraphs labeled:
1. Background should contain scientific rationale and the aim of the study or (in case of a review) purpose of the article.
2. Material and methods should clearly describe the selection of observational or experimental subjects, including controls, such as age, sex, inclusion and exclusion criteria (the circumstances for rejection from the study should be clearly defined), randomization, and masking (blinding) method. The protocol of data acquisition, procedures, investigated parameters, methods of measurements, and apparatus should be described in sufficient detail to allow other scientists to reproduce the results. The name of and references to the established methods should be given. References and brief description should be provided for methods that have been published but are not well known, whereas new or substantially modified methods should be described in detail. The reasons for using them should be provided along with evaluation of their limitations. The drugs and other chemicals should be precisely identified, including generic name, dose, and route of administration. The statistical methods should be described in detail to enable verification of the reported results. Provide information on patient informed consent. Studies on patients and volunteers require informed consent documented in the text of the manuscript. Where there is any unavoidable risk of breach of privacy (eg, in a clinical photograph or in case details) the patient's written consent to publication must be obtained and copied to the journal. Information on approval by a Local Ethics Committee should also be provided.
3. Results should concisely and reasonably summarize the findings. Restrict tables and figures to the number needed to explain the argument of the paper and assess its support. Do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Give numbers of observations and report exclusions or losses to observation such as dropouts from a clinical trial. Report treatment complications. The results should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. Do not repeat in the text all the data from the tables or graphs. Emphasize only important observations.
4. Discussion should deal only with new and/or important aspects of the study. Do not repeat in detail data or other material from the Background or the Results section. Include in the Discussion the implications of the findings and their limitations, including implications for future research. The Discussion should discuss the results of other investigations, especially those quoted in the text.
5. Conclusions should be linked with the goals of the study. State new hypotheses when warranted. Include recommendations when appropriate. Unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by the obtained data should be avoided.
6. Acknowledgements. List all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship, such as technical assistants, writing assistants, or head of department, who provided only general support. Financial and other material support should be disclosed and acknowledged.
Unpublished observations and personal communications cannot be used as references. If essential, such material may be incorporated in the appropriate place in the text.References must be up-to-date and must be numbered consecutively as they are cited. References selected for publication should be chosen for their importance, accessibility, and further reading opportunities. References first cited in tables or figure legends must be numbered so that they will be in sequence with references cited in the text. The style of references is that of Index Medicus. List all authors when there are six or fewer; when there are seven or more, list the first three, then “et al”. The following is a sample reference:
:: Standard journal article: Lahita R, Kluger J, Drayer DE, Koffler D, Reidenberg MM. Antibodies to nuclear antigens in patients treated with procainamide or acetylprocainamide. N Engl J Med 1979;301:1382-5.
:: Article with published erratum: Koffler D, Reidenberg MM. Antibodies to nuclear antigens in patients treated with procainamide or acetylprocainamide [published erratum appears in N Engl J Med 1979;302:322-5]. N Engl J Med 1979; 301: 1382-5.
:: Article in electronic form: Drayer DE, Koffler D. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 Jan-Mar [cited 1996 Jun 5]; 1(1):[24 screens]. Available from: URL:http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm
:: Article, no author given: Cancer in South Africa [editorial]. S Afr Med J 1994;84:15.
:: Book, personal author(s): Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.
:: Book, editor(s) as author: Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.
:: Book, Organization as author and publisher: Institute of Medicine (US). Looking at the future of the Medicaid program. Washington: The Institute; 1992.
:: Chapter in a book: Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. p. 465-78.
:: Conference proceedings: Kimura J, Shibasaki H, editors. Recent advances in clinical neurophysiology. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology; 1995 Oct 15-19; Kyoto, Japan. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1996.
:: Conference paper: Bengtsson S, Solheim BG. Enforcement of data protection, privacy and security in medical informatics. In: Lun KC, Degoulet P, Piemme TE, Rienhoff O, editors. MEDINFO 92. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Medical Informatics; 1992 Sep 6-10; Geneva, Switzerland.
Avoid using abstracts or review papers as references.
Unpublished observations and personal communications cannot be used as references. If essential, such material may be incorporated in the appropriate place in the text.
Tables. Save each table in a separate file. Do not submit tables as printed photographs. Name table files consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text, and supply a brief title for each. Give each column a short or abbreviated heading. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all nonstandard abbreviations that are used in each table. For footnotes, use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, **, etc. Identify statistical measures of variations such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean. Do not use internal horizontal and vertical rules. Be sure that each table is cited in the text. If you use data from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and acknowledge them fully.
Figures should be professionally prepared (each in a separate file) at a preferred resolution of 300 dpi, in the following formats: jpeg, tiff, eps, psd, or pdf.
Letters, numbers, and symbols should be clear and even throughout and of sufficient size that when reduced for publication each item will still be legible. Titles and detailed explanations should be listed at the end of the text file. Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they were first cited in the text. If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. Permission is required irrespective of authorship or publisher, except for documents in the public domain.
Photographs should be color or black and white, saved in separate files, with numbers and descriptions at a preferred resolution of 300 dpi, in the following formats: jpeg or tiff. Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background. If photographs of people are used, either the subjects must not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.
Legends for Illustrations. Detailed explanations should be listed at the end of the text file with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one clearly in the legend. Explain the internal scale and identify the method of staining in photographs.
Units of Measurement. Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius. Blood pressures should be given in millimeters of mercury. All hematological and clinical chemistry measurements should be reported in the metric system in terms of the International System of Units (SI). Alternative or non-SI units should be added in parenthesis.
Abbreviations and Symbols. Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations 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.
Manuscripts are evaluated on the basis that they present new insights to the investigated topic and are likely to contribute to research progress or change in clinical practice or thinking about a disease. It is understood that all authors listed in a manuscript have agreed to its submission. The corresponding author, by checking all legal notices during the submission process, signifies that these conditions have been fulfilled.
Received manuscripts are first examined by the Medical Science and Technology editors. Manuscripts that do not meet criteria for publication are promptly rejected. Incomplete submissions or manuscripts not prepared in the advised style will not be sent for peer-review until the correct and complete submission has been provided. The authors are given a reference number upon manuscript registration at the Editorial Office. The registered manuscripts are sent to independent experts for scientific evaluation. We encourage authors to suggest the names of possible reviewers, but we reserve the right of final selection. Submitted papers are accepted for publication after a positive recommendation of the independent reviewers. Authors should return a corrected paper within 1–6 weeks, depending on the reviewers’ recommendation. The evaluation process usually takes 1–2 months.
Medical Science and Technology uses the Open Access publishing model in which all published articles are freely available to readers directly from the Journal's website, as well as from PubMed and PubMed Central. This publishing model, however, is based on author fees. The submission of a manuscript and peer-review process are free of charge. The processing fee applies only to manuscripts accepted for publication. Online credit card payment is our preferred method of payment. We also accept bank checks and wire transfers. The payment instructions will be provided after a manuscript has been accepted for publication.
Editorial Processing @ 500,- USD Estimated processing time: weeks depending on the length of the peer-review process, time required for manuscript correction by authors, speed of response to galley-proof acceptance, your institution's payment procedures, and the number of manuscripts awaiting publication.
Editors of the Medical Science and Technology accept only electronic submissions via the Authors’ Service available on the Journal's website. Please register first if this is your first submission to the Journal, which will enable efficient communication with the editors, monitoring of manuscript status, re-submissions of corrected files, and payment. Please follow the instructions in the journal's website.