Palestinian Medical and Pharmaceutical Journal (Pal. Med. Pharm. J.)

Authors Guidelines

Important information

Articles submitted must not have been previously published or be forthcoming in an archive journal or book (print or electronic). Furthermore, by submitting material to the Palestinian Medical and Pharmaceutical Journal, the author agrees that the material is not currently under review at another journal (electronic or print) and that he or she will not submit the material to another journal (electronic or print) until the editorial decision process at Palestinian Medical and Pharmaceutical Journal has been completed. Manuscripts should report unique data that address important biological issues. The study must be repeatable; the materials used must be made accessible to other researchers to perform the experiment.

Who can submit it?

All scientists may submit an original article for consideration for publishing in the Palestinian Medical and Pharmaceutical Journal if they possess the copyright to the submitted content or are permitted to do so by the copyright owner or owners. Authors are the original owners of their works' copyrights (an exception in the non-academic world to this might exist if the authors have, as a condition of employment, agreed to transfer copyright to their employer).

Types of articles

Full-length articles, review papers, short communications, case studies, and letters to the Editor.

Before submitting your work to the publisher for review, please see the appropriate part of this Author's Guide for further information.

• One author has been designated as the corresponding author, with contact information: institutional email address and full postal address, and every author provides the institutional Email address.
• All necessary documents are available for submission, including:
  1. The whole manuscript file, including keywords, all figures with appropriate captions, all tables in editable format, and a note indicating whether or not color should be used for any figures in print
  2. A cover letter addressed to the Editor (mandatory).
  3. Highlights / Graphical Abstracts files (where applicable).
  4. Supplementary files (where applicable).

Additional considerations

All references in the Reference List are referenced in the text, and vice versa.
A competing interests declaration is supplied if the authors have no conflicting interests to disclose.
The journal rules outlined in this guide have been evaluated.

Conflict of Interest Policy

All potential conflicts of interest must be fully disclosed to the Journal. All authors must declare any financial and personal links with other persons or organizations that might unfairly affect (bias) their work at the end of the manuscript text, under the subheading "Conflict of Interest statement." If no conflicts of interest exist, the authors should state: "The authors declare that no conflicts of interest exist."

Research involving human participants, their data, or biological material require ethical approval.

Authors of research involving human, or animal subjects should include a statement that confirms that the study was approved (or granted exemption) by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee (including the name of the ethics committee and reference number, if available). For research involving animals, their data, or biological material, authors should supply detailed information on the ethical treatment of their animals in their submission. If a study was granted exemption or did not require ethics approval, this should also be detailed in the manuscript

Retrospective ethics approval

If a study has not been granted ethics committee approval before commencing, retrospective ethics approval usually cannot be obtained, and it may not be possible to consider the manuscript for peer review. The decision to proceed to peer review in such cases is at the Editor's discretion.

Ethics approval for case studies

Case reports require ethics approval. Most institutions will have specific policies on this subject. Authors should check with their institution to make sure they are complying with the specific requirements of their institution and seek ethics approval where needed. Authors should be aware of securing informed consent from the individual (or parent or guardian if the participant is minor or incapable)

Language

All submissions must be in English. Except for popular foreign terms and phrases, foreign words and phrases should be avoided. Authors should use appropriate, conventional English grammar. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; include nothing that implies one person is superior to another based on age, gender, color, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability, or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors must guarantee that their work is devoid of bias, stereotypes, slang, references to the dominant culture, and/or cultural assumptions.

Author contributions

All authors listed in your paper must have contributed significantly to the study. We invite authors to submit an author contribution statement detailing their particular contributions to the research using the CRediT roles: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation; Methodology, Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; Writing - review & editing.

Changes to authorship

Before submitting the study, authors should carefully consider the list of authors and the order in which they should be included. They should also provide the final author list at the time of the first submission. Any changes to the authorship list should be made only before the paper is accepted and with the permission of the Journal's Editor. To submit such a request, the Editor must get the following information from the associated author: (a) the reason for the change in the author list; and (b) written confirmation (email, letter) from all authors that they approve the addition, deletion, or rearrangement. This includes agreement from the author being added or deleted in the case of author addition or removal. After the work has been authorized, the Editor will only consider adding, deleting, or rearranging authors in exceptional situations. The manuscript's publication will be paused while the Editor evaluates the request.

Funding source

You are asked to identify who provided financial support for the research and/or preparation of the article, as well as to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation, report writing, and decision to submit the article for publication. Specifying whether the financing source(s) had no such engagement is recommended.

Submission

This Journal accepts submissions entirely online. The technology transforms source files into a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article for peer review. Please keep in mind that although manuscript source files are converted to PDF during the review process, these source files are required for further processing following approval. All contact, including notification of the Editor's decision and modification requests, is handled through email and the author's page in Editorial Manager, eliminating the need for a hard-copy paper trail.

Suggesting reviewers

Please provide the names and email addresses of several potential reviewers. It would be best if you did not recommend reviewers who are coworkers, co-authors, or collaborators with you. Reviewers having possible conflicting interests with the authors are not invited by editors. Furthermore, to give a comprehensive and fair evaluation of the work while maintaining scientific rigor, please recommend varied possible reviewers from countries/regions other than the author group. Finally, you should not add current members of the Journal's editorial staff who are already known to the Journal. The Editor decides whether or not to invite your suggested reviewers.

References

There are no specific regulations for reference formatting at the time of submission. References may be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. Where relevant, the author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter, and article number or pagination must all be included. DOI use is strongly recommended. It should be noted that missing data will be indicated during the proofing step for the author to amend.

Articles in traditional journals:

Required: Author's (authors') name(s), the title of the article, name of Journal, year of publication (or "n.d." if no date), volume number, and page numbers.
Optional (but desirable): issue number and month/season of publication. For forthcoming (in press) articles, put the expected year of publication and substitute "forthcoming" for the volume and page numbers.
Optional(but desirable): A hyperlink to the article.

Books:

Required: Author's (authors') name(s), title of the book, year of publication (or "n.d." if no date), publisher, publisher's address, and edition (if not first). For forthcoming (in press) books, put the expected year of publication and add "forthcoming."

Chapters in collections or anthologies:

Required: Name(s) of the author(s) of a chapter, name(s) of Editor (s) of the book, the title of the chapter, the title of the book, year of publication (or "n.d." if no date), publisher, publisher's address, and edition (if not first). For forthcoming (in press) books, put the expected year of publication and add "forthcoming."

Working papers:

Required: Author's (authors') name(s), the title of a working paper, year (or "n.d." if no date), location (e.g., "Department of Economics Working Paper, University of California, Berkeley" or "Author's web site: http://www.someurl.edu/author." If the working paper is part of a series, then the series name and the number of the working paper within the series must also be given.

Other works:

Required: Author's (authors') name(s), the title of work, year (or "n.d." if no date), and information about how the reader could obtain a copy.

Formatting requirements

1. Page size should be 8.5 x 11-inches.
2. All margins (left, right, top and bottom) should be 1.5 inches (3.8 cm), including your tables and figures.
3. Single-space your text.
4. Use a single-column layout with both left and right margins justified.
5. If figures are included, use high-resolution figures.
6. When possible, there should be no pages where more than a quarter of the page is empty space.
7. Do not insert extra space between paragraphs of text except for long quotations, theorems, propositions, special remarks, etc. These should be set off from the surrounding text by additional space above and below.
8. Do not use "widow" or "orphan" text (i.e., ending a page with the first line of a paragraph or beginning a page with the last line of a paragraph).
9. Font faces: except, possibly, where special symbols are needed, use Times or the closest comparable font available. If you desire a second font, for instance, for headings, use a sans serif font (e.g., Arial or Computer Modern Sans Serif).
10. Font size: the main body of the text should be set in 12pt. Avoid the use of fonts smaller than 6pt.

Figures and tables embedded in the text

Please ensure the figures and the tables included in the single file are placed next to the relevant text in the manuscript rather than at the bottom or the top of the file. Large tables or figures should be placed on their own pages. Avoid using small types in tables. Tables and figures should never be kept in a separate document or file. In both portrait and landscape views, all tables and figures must have 1.5" margins on all sides (top, bottom, left, and right).

Highlights

Highlights are optional but strongly recommended for this Journal since they improve your article's discoverability via search engines. They are composed of a brief list of bullet points that summarize the novel findings of your research as well as the novel methodologies employed throughout the study (if any). Highlights should be supplied through the online submission system as a separate editable file. Please name the file 'Highlights' and include 3 to 5 bullet points.

Graphical Abstract

The Graphical Abstract, which is optional, should explain the contents of the article in a clear, graphical style in order to catch the attention of a large online audience. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file through the online submission system.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations must be explained the first time they are used, both in the Abstract and again in the main text.

Footnotes

Footnotes should appear at the bottom of the page on which they are referenced rather than at the end of the paper. Footnotes should be in 10 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available should be single-spaced, and there should be a footnote separator rule (line). Footnote numbers or symbols in the text must follow, rather than precede, punctuation. Excessively long footnotes are probably better handled in an appendix. All footnotes should be left and right-justified (i.e., flush with the right margin) unless this creates awkward spacing.

Mathematics

Roman letters used in mathematical expressions as variables should be italicized. Roman letters used as part of multi-letter function names should not be italicized. Whenever possible, subscripts and superscripts should be in a smaller font size than the main text.

Short mathematical expressions should be typed inline. Longer expressions should appear as display math. Also, expressions using many different levels (e.g., as fractions) should be set as display math. Important definitions or concepts can also be set off as display math.

Equations should be numbered sequentially. Whether equation numbers are on the right or left is the choice of the author(s). However, you are expected to be consistent in this.

Symbols and notation in unusual fonts should be avoided. This will not only enhance the manuscript's clarity but also help insure that it displays correctly on the reader's screen and prints on her printer. When proofing your document under PDF, pay particular attention to the rendering of the mathematics, especially symbols and notation were drawn from other than standard fonts.

Organization of the manuscript

The first page must include:

1. Title: First letter capitalized, subsequent letters in lower case. Avoid abbreviations.
2. The names and affiliations of the authors. Please explicitly mention each author's given name(s) and family name(s) and ensure that all names are spelled correctly—affiliations of all authors. If necessary, use superscripted lowercase letters after the author's name to distinguish affiliations.
3. Author to whom proofs and correspondence should be sent, including name, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and email address.
4. A clear abstract has to be submitted of no more than 250 words.
5. Keywords (a maximum of six can be entered). Please propose other phrases that assist in characterizing the research in addition to the essential words from the title.

Word limits

Individual sections of full articles should not exceed 250 words for the abstract, 1000 words for the introduction, 1500 for the discussion, and 150 for the conclusion. There is no set word limit for the Materials, Methods, and Results sections, although they should be concise.

Headings

Headings (e.g., the start of sections) should be distinguished from the main body text by their fonts or using small caps. Use the same font face for all headings and indicate the hierarchy by reducing the font size. There should be space above and below headings.

Introduction

State the work's goals and provide adequate background information without avoiding a lengthy literature study or a description of the outcomes.

Materials and methods

Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.

Results

The results should be clear and straightforward.

Discussion

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Conclusion

Present the conclusions of the study in a short Conclusions section.

Acknowledgments

Collect acknowledgments in a distinct section after the article before the references and do not put them on the title page, as a footnote to the title, or elsewhere. List the individuals who assisted you with your study in this section (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance, or proofreading the article, etc.).

Supplementary Material

Supplementary material, such as applications, images, and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files, as these will appear in the published version.

Data statement

To foster transparency, we encourage you to state the availability of your data in your submission.