Journal of Preventive Medicine

    

How to write an article

1. Article structure

The following points should be observed in arranging and writing the different parts of the submitted articles, according to the type:

1.1. Original research articles

This type of article includes title, Persian and English abstract, article text, tables, diagrams, and references and up to 5200 words. If the study is done qualitatively, it can be up to 5000 words.

Article abstract should be structured (Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusion, Key Words) and up to 260 words.

1.2. Review articles

The structure of this type of articles includes title, Persian and English abstracts, article text, tables, diagrams and references and up to 5000 words. A structured article abstract is up to 300 words (Introduction, sources of information or data, Methods chosen for study, combining the content and Results, Conclusions, Keywords) and an unstructured abstract is up to 260 words. In this type of study, at least 3 references must belong to the authors.

1.3. Short article

It is similar to research articles with few research findings. These types of articles include titles, Persian and English abstracts, article text, tables, graphs, and references and up to 2500 words. The abstract of these articles is structured (Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusion, Keywords) and up to 150 words.

1.4. Case report:

The findings of this research in this type of articles are limited to a specific topic or case. These types of articles include title, Persian and English abstracts, article text, tables, diagrams, and references and up to 3000 words. The abstract of these articles is structured (background or history, case, conclusion) and up to 125 words.

1.5. Letter to editor:

A letter to editor is prepared with critical topics on previous articles, new and valuable news and experiences. A review of an article will be accepted no later than two months after publication. The maximum volume of a letter to the editor is 1000 words. A letter to an editor is presented in the order of presentation in the text of the title page, the text of the letter to the editor (may be presented in several sections), conclusion (optional), ethical considerations, acknowledgement and references.
 

2. Article components

2.1. Article title page:

· Article title: The title should be short and clear. Words such as study, review, and time can be omitted from it. The title of the article should be written as a phrase, not a sentence. Using abbreviations and acronyms in the title should be prevented.

· Short title: A brief title that is printed for use on the headlines of the article (up to 20 letters).

· Type of article: The type of article should be specified, original, short, review (narrative, systematic), and case study.

Authors’ details: In the case of all authors, in Persian and English abstracts, the first name and last name should be numbered and mentioned without any title, including lady, engineer, doctor, etc.

Scientific characteristics and organizational affiliation of all authors should be written in the same order of names, as follows: academic rank, name of field of study, name of group, name of research center or faculty, university, city, country.
In the English abstract, it is better to include the author’s academic rank with the abbreviations MD, PHD, BS, and MSc.
Example:
PHD, Health Information Management, …… Research Center, Department of ……, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran

2.2. Article abstract:

· English Abstract:Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusion, Key Words
Note: To select the keywords that are written at the end of the Persian abstract, the specialized thesaurus related to that field for Persian words should be used. MeSH should be used to select keywords written at the end of the English abstract. It should be noted that specific names and technical terms do not require vocabulary control and the words themselves may be used. Keywords should be between 3 and 5 words.

2.3. Introduction

·  Statement of the problem

·  The study importance

·  Previous related research

·  Justification for the present study

·  Purpose or objectives of the research
It is recommended that the number of introduction words should not exceed 1200 words.

  

2.4. Methods
Method of implementation: type of study, system specifications in full, research environment, community and sample under study, sampling method and sample allocation. (It is necessary to explain exactly the criteria for entering and excluding the study in the working method).
Methods and tools of data collection: collection tools, how to compile and design tools, validity and reliability of tools.
(It is necessary to fully mention the required sources and how to prepare laboratory materials and consumables used in the research.)
Data analysis method: statistical methods and software used, statistical tests used and their application.
In the study of clinical trial, it is necessary to present the registration number of clinical trial (IRCT) and the approval of the research ethics committee of the relevant organization and the code assigned to it.
Obtaining informed consent should be mentioned.

2.5. Findings
Findings from the research should be in the form of text, table, diagrams, image and map with full description.
The contents of the text, tables and diagrams, pictures and maps should not be repeated.
Tables and diagrams must be presented statistically quite clear and accurate. Tables, diagrams, pictures and maps should have a number and a clear, obvious and short title with an appropriate references in the text. The title of the tables should be written above them and the title of the charts, pictures and maps below them.

2.6. Discussion and Conclusion:

·   Mentioning the main findings of the research

·  Describing the research findings and comparing them with previous research

·  Possible reasons for confirming or rejecting the findings of others

·  Strengths and weaknesses of the study

·  Description of unexpected findings

·  Application of the findings

·  Final conclusion

·  Suggestions and restrictions

2.7.  Acknowledgement
In this section, the author or group of authors can appreciate individuals or organizations who have somehow contributed or funded the study, or the writing of the article.

2.8. Ethical approval:
In this section, the code approved by the university ethics committee should be entered.

2.9. Conflicts of Interest/ Competing Interests
All authors of must disclose any and all conflicts of interest they may have with publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflict of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

2.10. Authorship Criteria
Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the three components mentioned below:
Concept and design of study or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data;
Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
Final approval of the version to be published.
Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship. Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing the manuscript. Once submitted the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the contributors.

Contribution Details:
Contributors should provide a description of contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. Description should be divided in following categories, as applicable: concept, design, definition of intellectual content, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing and manuscript review. Authors' contributions will be printed along with the article.
2.11. Financial support:
In case of financial support by a special organization, mention the title at the bottom of the page. In the case of not using a financial support, it should be clearly mentioned.

2.12. Sources and references:
A maximum of 30 references should be given for research articles.
Citations must be from the last 10 years.
All sources must be in English.
It is necessary to translate the specifications of Persian references into English and the phrase [In Persian] should be given at the end.
References should be written according to Vancouver guidelines.
It is recommended to use End Note software or other management software in setting up and organizing references.
References should be numbered in parentheses in the order of use in the text and their specifications according to the examples provided from number one.

Note: For Persian articles, use the phrase [In Persian] at the end of the reference.
If the number of authors is more than 6, use the phrase et al. after the name of the sixth person.
Only the first letter of the title word should be typed in uppercase and all other words should be written in lower case (except for headings, abbreviations).
The following databases can be used to find the acronym for the magazine:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals

http://journalseek.net/

http://www.journalabbr.com/

Journal Article:
Seeff LB, Buskell Bales Z, Wrught EC, Durako SJ, Alter HJ, Iber FL, et al. Long term mortality after transfusion associated non A, non B hepatitis: The national heart, lung and blood institute study group. N Engl J Med. 1992; 3(5):361-9.

Book:
Kates M. Techniques of Lipidology. 2nd Ed. New York: Elsevier; 1992.

Book chapter:
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.

Conference:
Bengtsson S, Solheim BG. Enforcement of data protection, privacy and security in medical informatics. In: Lun KC, Degoulet P, Piemme TE, Reinhoff O, Editors. Proceedings of the 7th world congress on Medical Informatics; 1992 Sep 6-10; Geneva, Switzerland. Amsterdam: North-Holland; 1992

Thesis:
Kaplan SI. Post-hospital home health care: the elderly access and utilization [Dissertation]. St.Louis (Mo): Washington University; 1994.

Web page: 
Chan M. Progress in public health during the previous decade and major challenges ahead. WHO Web Site; 2014 [updated 18 January, 2014; cited 10 January, 2014]; Available from: http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2014/executive_board_126_20100118/en/index.html 

Unpublished paper: 
Leshner AL. Molecular mechanisms of cocaine addiction. N Engl J Med. In press.

Patent
Mazar S, Patel A, inventors; Vios Medical Inc, assignee. Patient care and health information management system. United States patent US 10,621,686. 2020
 

3. Tips for the text of the article:
Foreign terms that have an exact and accessible equivalent in Persian should be avoided and only when necessary, the Latin equivalent should be written in parentheses in front of the word.
Digital Rectal Examination (DRE)
Names, terms and names of foreigners should be given in the text of the article in English (do not include footnotes).
All percentages should be written in words in the text. For example, 29 percent is correct and should not be written as 29%.
In the Persian text, decimal numbers should be presented in Persian with a slash.
Tips for setting up and drawing tables, diagrams and pictures:

· It should briefly describe the tables and pictures of the findings.

· Tables and pictures should be referenced in numerical order in the text of the article.

· Tables should have a title (at the top of the table) that explains the subject of the table.

· Diagrams or shapes should have a title (below the diagram or picture) that explains their subject matter.

· The table cells should not be empty and if empty, enough explanation should be given about it.

· Any unfamiliar term or abbreviations should be described using subtitles below tables, diagrams, pictures and maps.

· The number of pictures, diagrams and tables of an article is limited and should not be more than one per 1000 to 1200 words.

· Avoid repeating the results both in the form of tables and diagrams. Avoid providing additional tables, curves and pictures. For example, a table that has only one row or a graph that shows 2 statistical ratios are considered excessive because the above items can be presented in the text in one or two lines.

· In the case of using digital pictures, high quality pictures should be used.

· Pictures should be clear enough that the findings mentioned in the title or text of the article are visible and, where appropriate, the image should be in color.
 

4. How to submit an article:
Respected authors can submit their article online by registering on the site of the journal (http://jpm.hums.ac.ir).
It is worth mentioning that sending the following files is required:
A) With the names and details of the authors
B) Without the names and details of the authors
C) Article Commitment Form
D) Check List Completed
E) Endnote File

Note: The article commitment form must contain the signatures of all authors. If one of the authors is not mentioned as the responsible author, the sender of the article will be ready to answer the cases regarding the rights of other authors and to answer the correspondence.

 

5. Article file format:
Articles should be typed in a single column according to the authors’ guide in Word software without any page layout.
Font type and number:

· The text of the research article should be written in Persian B Lotus No. 11.

· Persian abstract should be written with Persian font B Nazanin No. 10.

· English abstract should be written in English font Times new roman number 12.

· The distance between the lines should be considered 1.5.
 

6. Author commitments:
The responsibility for the accuracy of the contents of the article, the order of the names of the authors, answering to the suppliers of funding for the research if their names are not mentioned in the final section and answering any legal claims about copyright or content is the responsibility of the author (s).

· In case of non-compliance with ethical standards and protection of the rights of research participants, this article will be excused from publishing.

·  The authors of the article are responsible for being accountable to those whose names are mentioned in the acknowledgement section.

· The article should not be published or reviewed in another article when submitted to the Journal of Preventive Medicine until the final opinion is announced.

· If the article has already been published in English and its translation is sent to this journal, the English version should be certainly informed by mentioning the address of the Journal of Preventive Medicine.

· The publication of articles published in this journal is not prohibited in English language journals by obtaining a license from both the Journal of Medical Prevention and the destination journal.
 

7. How to judge articles:

· Articles will be reviewed, criticized and evaluated by the Editorial Council. These councils are free to change and modify the articles, and at any stage of the article publishing process, there is a possibility of rejecting the article with the opinion of the Editorial Council.

· The submitted articles will be judged by at least two judges whose identities are confidential and according to the article evaluation checklist.

· The journal tries to inform the authors of the article about the review result of the article in the shortest possible time.

· The author is obliged to send his revised article to the journal office up to two weeks after receiving the judges’ opinions.

· The author is required to highlight changes in the revised article.

· After making the proposed modifications, the article will be re-reviewed by experts.

· Upon final approval of the article, a letter of acceptance for publication of the article in the journal will be sent to the authors.