Updated 9 February 2022

Submission Guidelines

The conditions of submission

Open access license, copyright, and charges
Upon submission, the authors are required to sign an exclusive license form for open access publication of their work in the journal under the Creative Commons license 4.0 (CC-BY). The authors retain the copyright to their work. Please see our open access and copyright policy and license agreement for more information.
Currently, there are no submission or publication charges applicable to the articles submitted to or published in Medical Journal of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences the open access publication of which is supported by Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Department of Vice Chancellor for Research.
Cover letter
A cover letter is required for every submission. The authors will need to confirm the following conditions in the submission cover letter: 

• That the submission is original, submitted solely to this journal, and not currently under consideration for publication or already published elsewhere, unless explained in the submission cover letter. See our editorial policies on duplicate publication.
• That no any sentence is copied from other sources. See our editorial policies on plagiarism and text recycling.
• That the submitting author takes responsibility for the submission on behalf of all authors as the corresponding author.
• That all authors have reviewed, approved, and consented to the submission, and they are accountable for all aspects of its accuracy and integrity in accordance with ICMJE criteria.

The submission cover letter should also include the following information, as well as any additional information requested in the instructions for the specific article type that the authors are submitting:

• An explanation of why the submitted work should be published in the journal (the novelty of the work).
• An explanation of any issues relating to journal policies.
• A declaration of any potential competing interests.
• The name of particular special issue that the submission should be published in.

The authors may also suggest potential peer reviewers for their submission by providing name, institutional email addresses, and an ORCID or Scopus ID. Please see our editorial policies for more information on suggesting peer reviewers. Please also see our editorial policies regarding the use of unique identifiers.
The authors may also provide the details of anyone who they would prefer not to review their work.
Intentionally providing falsifying information, such as false names or email addresses, will result in rejection of the submission and may lead to further investigation in line with our misconduct policy.

Copyright transfer form
Before publishing the article, all the authors are required to sign copyright transfer form separately. Signing copyright transfer form only by the corresponding author is not accepted.

Preparing the manuscript

Medical Journal of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences evaluates the following types of articles for publication:

Original Article

The research article contains the results of research on new topics.
The manuscript should contain Title Page, Structured Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables, Captions, Figures, Indexes and Appendices.
Required Submission Information: Acknowledgments, Authors’ contributions, Funding, Availability of data, Ethical Considerations, Competing interests.
The manuscript should contain at most 5500 words (starting from Introduction to the end of Conclusion) and 30 references.

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The systematic review article contains the results of an observational study on existing studies, which includes accurate identification of the research problem, data collection and analysis and interpretation of results, and is performed based on a precise and predetermined protocol.
The manuscript should contain Title Page, Structured Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables, Captions, Figures, Indexes and Appendices.
Required Submission Information: Acknowledgments, Authors’ contributions, Funding, Availability of data, Ethical Considerations, Competing interests.
The manuscript should contain at most 5000 words (starting from Introduction to the end of Conclusion) and 50 references.

Narrative Review Article

This type of review article is used for comprehensive and detailed topics and summarizes the initial and original studies of a topic. Review articles, in addition to being up to date, should be done with a topic in the field of medical sciences, systems and health services, or related to one of the topics in the journal.
The manuscript should contain Title Page, Unstructured Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Required Titles, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables, Captions, Figures, Indexes and Appendices.
Required Submission Information: Acknowledgments, Authors’ contributions, Funding, Availability of data, Ethical Considerations, Competing interests.
All types of review articles are accepted. See the following article in order to get information about all types of review articles:
Grant MJ, Booth A. A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health information & libraries journal. 2009 Jun;26(2):91-108.

Short Communication

A short research paper is structurally like an original research article.
The manuscript should contain Title Page, Structured Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables, Captions, Figures, Indexes and Appendices.
Required Submission Information: Acknowledgments, Authors’ contributions, Funding, Availability of data, Ethical Considerations, Competing interests.
The manuscript should contain at most 2000 words (starting from Introduction to the end of Conclusion), 15 references and two tables or figures.

Case Report

Systematic reports are of interesting or rare cases of importance for the practice of professionals.
The manuscript should contain Title Page, Unstructured Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Report, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables, Captions, Figures, Indexes and Appendices.
Required Submission Information: Acknowledgments, Authors’ contributions, Funding, Availability of data, Ethical Considerations, Competing interests.
In preparing these articles, it should be noted that the secrets should be kept confidential and a consent form should be prepared from the person and sent as an attachment to the article.

Letter to Editor

It consists of topics such as concerns on previous articles, reviewing books, analyzing subjects related to medical education, reporting and reviewing medical education conferences, developing an idea or describing a complicated subject and in case of review of previous articles, it should be submitted no later than 3 months after the publication of the article. Also, the letter to the editor before publication is first sent to the authors and if possible, the critical article and the authors’ response are published simultaneously.
Required Submission Information: Authors’ contributions, Competing interests.
Letters to editor contain maximum of 1000 words and are structure-free and consist maximum of five references.

Editorial

This section can address an article or topic previously published in the journal, or a brief description of a topic that does not need to be fully explored or covers topics of interest to readers. The editorials are written at the invitation of the Editor-in-Chief or by the editor.
Required Submission Information: Competing interests.
Editorial should contain at most 1000 words with 5 references, a title and unstructured abstract.

Commentary

This section includes an in-depth analysis of current issues of interest to the medical community, such as policy making, budget, training and the like. The comments section can also be written about a previously published article. In this case, the title will be written as follows: "Note: The title of the mentioned article". Content written in the notes section should be in line with the scope of the journal.
Required Submission Information: Competing interests.
Editorial should contain at most 1500 words with 10 references, a title, and unstructured abstract.

Technical Principals of Preparing a manuscript

When preparing the manuscript, follow the instructions below in each of the relevant sections.

Title

A brief and descriptive title should be chosen for the article. Specify the type of study in the title with colon (:). (Meta-analysis, systematic review, cohort, case report, etc.)

Persian Abstract

The structured abstract (maximum of 250 words) should include the following main headings:

• Background
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusion
• Practical Implications

Practical implications: In order to translate knowledge, the practical results of the article are briefly included in this section.
The conformity of Persian and English abstracts is required.
Unstructured abstract (maximum of 150 words) does not include title.

English Abstract

The components of this section are like the Persian abstract and should include the following main headings:

• Background
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusion
• Practical Implications

The conformity of Persian and English abstracts is required.

Extended English Abstract

The extended abstract should be written in English and have a maximum of 1000 words. It should have subheadings like the main article and emphasize on the methodology and results of the article.
The extended abstract should have the following structure:

• Background (Maximum of 150 words)
• Methods (Maximum of 300 words)
• Results (Maximum of 400 words)
• Conclusion (Maximum of 150 words)

In the initial stage of submitting a manuscript, it is not necessary for all submitted manuscripts to have an extended abstract because an extended abstract is required for articles that have been accepted.

Persian Keywords

3 to 10 keywords for the article should be selected that exactly match the English keywords. Keywords should be written in alphabetical order.

English Keywords

3 to 10 keywords for the article should be selected from MeSH list that exactly match the Persian keywords. Keywords should be written in alphabetical order.

Introduction

The introduction includes a brief overview of the subject under study and the reason for the study. Accurate comparisons with previous work and study results should be written in the discussion section. The practical points of the article are also given in the introduction.

Methods

The methods section should describe in adequate detail the experimental subjects, their important characteristics and the methods, apparatus and procedures used so that other researchers can repeat the experiment.
The methods section should describe in adequate detail the experimental subjects, their important characteristics and the methods, apparatus and procedures used so that other researchers can reproduce the experiment.
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 and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. 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.
The methods section must indicate that the protocol was reviewed by the appropriate institutional review body and that each subject in the project signed a detailed informed consent form.
If an apparatus is used, its manufacturer’s 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 is able to 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. Statistical method must be mentioned and specify any general computer program used. Data collecting system needs to be clearly stated.

Results

It must be presented in the form of text, tables and illustrations by the order of appearance. The contents of the tables should not be all repeated in the text. The original diagrams should be sent in Persian. The captions of the tables need to be placed above and the captions for the figures should be placed below. In this section, only the findings of the study can be stated. Avoid presenting introduction, literature review, discussion, etc. in this section.

Discussion

New and possible findings of the study should be emphasized, as well as any conclusions that can be drawn. The discussion should compare the present data to previous findings. Limitations of the experimental methods should be indicated, as should implications for future research. New hypotheses and clinical recommendations need to be appropriate and clearly identified. Recommendations, particularly clinical ones, may be included when appropriate.

Conclusion

Finally, it must clearly end with conclusions and recommendations.

Citing references in the text

If any article of the reference list is cited and required by the reviewers for evaluation, it should be submitted at the request of the journal office. All links and URLs of websites should be given a special reference number and included in the list of references instead of being presented in the text of the article. Abstracts of published conferences, numbered inventions and pre-prints available on well-known servers can be included in the list of references; But the text, the details of the grant and the appreciation should not be included in this section. The authors are responsible for obtaining permission to cite personal exchanged communications and unpublished data from the collaborators who cite them. The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the cited references and should review them before submitting an article. When citing references at the time of submitting an article, authors should follow the Guidelines of Medical Journal of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences for styling and formatting.
All the references must be written in English. At the end of the non-English references, the original language of the reference must be mentioned. References must be numbered by the order of appearance inside the text. Use Arabic numerals without parentheses to cite a reference. Use hyphen (-) if references are used sequentially, otherwise use comma (,). References within tables and figures are used based on which item is cited first in-text.
For more information, please see instructions of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. 

Symbols and Abbreviations

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.

Preparing the Manuscript

The acceptable word processor file format for the manuscript document is Microsoft Word 2010 or 2013 (DOC, DOCX). Write the manuscript in concise American English. Use double line spacing. Use headings as necessary. Do not include line and page numbering (this will be added automatically during conversion to PDF). Use SI units: Please ensure that all special characters used are embedded in the text, otherwise they will be lost during conversion to PDF. Do not use page breaks in your manuscript.

Preparing Formulae or Equations

Equations should be typed in MathType (Download the software from http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathtype/). Graphical objects should not be used as formulas. Make sure that your equations are editable. If you have already composed your paper in Microsoft Word and used its built-in equation editing tool, the equations will become unusable during the layout and galley production. The production editor may ask you to re-key your equations using Math Type after the editorial acceptance. Long equations should be set off from the text and numbered sequentially. You may refer to the equations in next references in the text by their number (e.g., "Equation 1" or "Equations 2 and 3"). If using many equations or schemes is unavoidable, they can be collected in a table of equations and be shot as a framed figure to avoid typesetting errors.

Preparing Figures

Figures must be cited within the main text in numerical order (for example “Figure 1” or “Figures 2 and 3”). Figures must be submitted as separate files and NOT embedded in the main manuscript file. A legend for each figure should be provided during submission. The figures and the legends will be appended to the automatically generated submission PDF proof at the end of the submission process. Multi-panel figures (with labeled parts as a, b, c, d, etc.) must be combined and uploaded as one file. Histograms should be prepared in a simple, two-dimensional format, with no background grid. Make sure that any specific patient/hospital details are removed or blacked out (for example, X-rays, MRI scans, etc.). If photographs of patients are used, they should not be identifiable. Original data from which the images were prepared should be available, as the editors may request to see these data (for example, Office, SPSS and other line art images). Avoid using the touch-up tools, such as cloning and healing tools in Photoshop or any feature that deliberately obscures manipulations. In order to publish all figures as open access, authors must have permission from the rights holder if they wish to include images that have been published elsewhere in non-open-access journals. Graphics downloaded from Web pages should not be used unless the author has a right to re-publish those as open access. The original source and the permission should be indicated in the figure legend, and a citation should be included in the reference list. All submitted images must be of high quality. This means that their quality should be 300 dpi for color images, 600 dpi for black and white images and 1200 dpi for line arts. The following file types are accepted for the images section: EPS (suitable for charts or images), PDF (suitable for charts or images) Microsoft Word (suitable for charts or images, images should be on one page), Microsoft PowerPoint (suitable for charts or images, images should be in Be one page), TIFF (suitable for images), JPEG (suitable for photographic images, not so suitable for graphic images). To ensure that the images are of the highest quality during the creation and printing of the article, consider the following. EPS and PDF are preferable to TIFF when preparing graphs, charts, or any type of image of the software you use. If possible, use PDF because they are more compressed than EPS files. Vector design data files should be provided in PDF or EPS. Graphs, charts, or images created in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint can be submitted as a template. The uploaded file can only have one page or one slide, the dimensions of the slide page should be adjusted to the dimensions of the desired shape and there should be no extra blank spaces around. Photos, histological slides, radiographs, etc. must be submitted under JPEG or TIFF. Microsoft Word or PowerPoint should not be used for labels, arrows, and other markings on photographs, histological slides, radiographs, etc.; Because it reduces the quality of shapes. To do this, use special image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop to create high quality JPEG files with TIFF. TIFF files should be saved with LZW compression, which is done without loss of quality (reduces file size without loss of quality) and reduces upload time.

Preparing Tables

Tables must be cited within the main text in numerical order (for example, “Table 1” or “Tables 2 and 3”). Tables should be cell-based and created in Microsoft Word with the Tables tool with real rows and columns and not aligned with tabs, returns, or spaces. Tables exported from other software as non-editable images are not acceptable. Please make sure the table direction is set “left-to-right.” Tables should be presented in vertical orientation, and upright on the page. They should be presented in vertical orientation, and upright on the page. A concise title should be provided and inserted before each table. All columns should carry concise headings describing the data therein. Tables should be plain with no colors, shading, or graphics. They should not contain inserted text boxes, tables within tables, or cells within cells. Multi-part tables with varying numbers of columns or multiple footnotes should be organized as separate tables. Commas should not be used to indicate numerical values. Symbols and abbreviations should be defined immediately below the table, followed by essential brief description. If a table or any data therein have been previously published, the footnote to the table must give full credit to the original source. Larger datasets or tables too wide for A4 or Letter landscape page can be uploaded as additional files. Tabular data provided as additional files can be uploaded as an Excel spreadsheet (XLS) or comma separated values (CSV). Please use the standard file extensions. The number of figures, tables and histograms must not exceed 4. Tables, histograms and figures must be located at the end of the manuscript following references along with numbers and full description.

Preparing Additional Files

If the submission guidelines allow you to add additional files/attachments, use the instructions below. Supplementary files/appendices should be cited in numerical order within the text (for example, supplementary file/appendices 1 or supplementary files/appendices 2 and 3). Datasets, large tables, videos or other information can be submitted as supplementary files/attachments.

Providing the required information

Authors should have the following required information when submitting an article. For blind-peer review, make sure that this information is not in the text of the article. For more information about peer review, refer to the peer review section in the editorial line. The information provided by the editor will be reviewed. 

Author Information

Full names and email addresses of all authors, as well as their affiliations and institutional addresses are requested during submission. Providing the unique identifier (ORCID or Scopus ID) of each co-author is optional, but preferred. Please see our editorial policies on authorship and unique identifiers for more information. If a collaboration group should be listed as an author, please list the group name as an author.
In the “Authors’ contribution” section, the authors are required to explain the contribution of each co-author in the conception or design of the work; the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.

Acknowledgment

Authors should thank those who participated in the submission but did not meet the criteria of the authors based on four criteria set out in the editorial Policy section. Declaring the technical help provided by third parties such as editing centers regarding translating or writing assistance is obligatory. The authors must get permission for the above mentioned for acknowledgement section.

Considering our commitment to transparency and ethical practices, the authors are required to acknowledge the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the "Acknowledgments" section in this order:

• the specific AI tools or technologies used.

• what you used the AI tools or technologies for in the process of completing your assessment

• the prompts you used in the AI tools or technologies

• an explanation of how the output from the AI tools or technologies was used in your work.

Accordingly, if any part of the text has been produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, authors must include the following statement:

"We would like to acknowledge that [certain portions of the text] in this work were generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence technology. The specific technology used was [mention the AI technology or model used], and its contribution to the content is appreciated."

Authors’ Contributions

In this section, the authors should explain the contribution of each co-author in idea generation, design, collection, analysis or interpretation of data, drafting and review in terms of intellectual content.

Funding

The authors must list all the financial resources used for the research. The role of the financial source in the design of the study, data collection, analysis and interpretation as well as in the writing of the article should be announced.

Availability of data

Statements for data sharing are required for articles reporting research results. Data availability statements relate to the location and availability of data generated during the research and reported as a result in the article. Based on the type of research conducted as well as the type of data and the need for their availability, decisions can be made in writing these statements.
In general, the data availability statement can be in one of the following forms:

• The data generated in the current study are available in the database [name of database].
• All data generated in this study are included in this article [or its appendices].
• The data generated in the present study are provided at the reasonable request of the corresponding author.
• The data generated in the present study are not publicly available for reasons but is available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.
• Data matching is not an issue in this article, as no datum has been generated or analyzed during the current study.
• Data that supports the findings of this study are available through [Third Party Name], but there are limitations to the availability of these data, which are used for the current licensed study, and are therefore not publicly available. However, data from the authors are available upon request and with the permission of [third party name].
• Data will be available upon request due to privacy / ethical considerations.
• Non-digital data are available.
• Data are not available due to ethical / legal / commercial restrictions.
• The data will be available at [repository name] at [URL / DOI link] after a period of sanction from the date of publication to commercialize the study findings.

Ethical Considerations

All articles, based on empirical research on human specimens, must have letters indicating informed consent and approval by the local ethics committee. For researchers who do not have access to a formal ethics committee, the principles set out in the Helsinki Declaration must be followed. Informed written consent must be taken from any student or parent or guardian (in the case of immatures).

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

The authors reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissues are required to provide the following information: A statement on ethics approval and consent (even where the need for approval was waived), the name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the committee’s reference number if appropriate. Submissions reporting studies involving animals must include a statement on ethics approval. Please see our editorial policies for more information. If the submission does not report on or involve the use of any animals or human data or tissues, please state “Not applicable” in this section. For researchers who do not have access to a formal ethics committee, the principles set out in the Helsinki Declaration must be followed.

Consent to publish

If the submission contains any individual person’s data in any form, consent to publish must be obtained from that person, or in the case of children, their parent or legal guardian. All presentations of case reports must have consent to publish. The authors may use their institutional consent form. The form is not to be sent on submission, but we may request to see a copy at any stage (including after publication).

Competing Interests

Authors should cite any sources of funding and any potential conflicts of interest, including the receipt of funds or rewards, and the participation of any organization that may benefit from the publication of your article. Mentioning these matters will not automatically lead to the rejection of the article; but it is better for the journal to be aware of them. (Example of conflict of interest text: The authors hereby declare that this article is the result of an independent study and has no conflict of interest with other organizations and individuals). For more information on Competing Interests, please see the related section in Editorial Policy.

Finalizing submission

Before submitting, the author must check the PDF of the submitted article that is automatically generated. The submitter can share the PDF with the collaborating authors for final review and approval, and if there is a need for correction, he can review and then submit the article using the "Submit" button.

Revising the submission

Any future revisions to the submitted article, upon the request of the Editor-in-Chief, must follow the same instructions provided.
After submitting the revised article, the authors will be asked to submit a re-registration letter along with the revision details based on the comments provided by the Editor-in-Chief. Due to double-blind arbitration, the details of the supplementary review should not contain authorial details.