Submissions

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Author Guidelines

(D) Draft — must be adopted by the editorial board. This text is a model proposed by the journal starter catalog. It is not an effective journal policy until the editorial board has reviewed, adapted and formally adopted it.

Aims and scope

The journal publishes original research, systematic reviews, review articles, case reports, study protocols and short communications in clinical medicine, public and community health, nursing, pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, dentistry, applied medical sciences and rehabilitation, and health management and informatics. It welcomes research that improves clinical practice, health services and community health. [The editorial board defines the covered fields precisely.]

Article types

  • Original Research: double-anonymous peer review, up to 4,000 words, abstract up to 300 words.
  • Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses: double-anonymous peer review, up to 9,000 words, abstract up to 300 words.
  • Review Articles: double-anonymous peer review, up to 9,000 words, abstract up to 250 words.
  • Case Reports: double-anonymous peer review, up to 2,500 words, abstract up to 200 words.
  • Study Protocols: double-anonymous peer review, up to 6,000 words, abstract up to 300 words.
  • Short Communications: double-anonymous peer review, up to 3,000 words, abstract up to 150 words.
  • Letters to the Editor: assessed by the editorial board, up to 1,000 words.

Preparing the manuscript

  • Submit the manuscript as an editable word-processor file in a clear font with 1.5 line spacing and numbered pages and lines.
  • Provide two abstracts, in Arabic and in English, within the limit set for each section and regardless of the language of the article, with 3 to 6 keywords in both languages.
  • Structure the manuscript logically for its type; empirical studies usually follow Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion.
  • Number tables and figures consecutively, cite them in the text, and give each a title and source.

Reporting guidelines

Report the study according to the guideline applicable to its design and attach the completed checklist with page numbers: CONSORT for randomised controlled trials, STROBE for observational studies, STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews, CARE for case reports, SPIRIT for clinical trial protocols and ARRIVE for animal research. For other designs, consult the appropriate guideline in the EQUATOR Network library.

Clinical trial registration

Register clinical trials in a recognised registry before the first participant is enrolled, and give the registration number and date in the abstract and the Methods. Retrospectively registered trials are considered only with a justification accepted by the editorial board.

Ethics and consent

  • Name the research-ethics committee that approved the study and give the approval number and date; supply the approval on request.
  • State that written informed consent was obtained from participants or their guardians, or the committee-approved grounds for waiving it.
  • For case reports, attach the written consent of the patient or guardian to publication, and remove all identifying information from the text and images.

Authorship and disclosure

Authorship follows the criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE): substantial contribution to the design of the work or to the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data; drafting or critically revising it; approving the final version; and accepting accountability for all aspects of the work. Contributors who do not meet these criteria are acknowledged, and every author discloses funding and competing interests.

Statistics

Explain the sample-size calculation and the statistical software used, and report primary outcomes with effect sizes and confidence intervals, not p-values alone.

Citations and references

The proposed default is the Vancouver style as recommended by the ICMJE: references are numbered in order of first citation in the text and cited by numbers in square brackets or superscript; the reference list follows the numerical order, journal titles are abbreviated according to the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) lists, and the DOI or PMID is given where available. [The editorial board adopts the final style.]

Files required at submission

  • The full manuscript (article text).
  • An anonymised version for review with authors' names, affiliations and any identifying information removed, including from file properties.
  • A title page: the title in both languages, the authors' names, institutional affiliations, e-mail addresses and ORCID iDs, and the corresponding author.
  • Other files as applicable: cover letter, figures, tables, supplementary data, research-ethics approval.

Declarations

At submission the author confirms that the work is original and not under consideration elsewhere, and discloses funding, competing interests, ethics approvals, data availability and any use of AI tools, according to the journal's published policies.

Fees

[The editorial board sets the journal's fee policy and publishes it here before submissions open.]

Submission Preparation Checklist

(D) Draft — must be adopted by the editorial board. This text is a model proposed by the journal starter catalog. It is not an effective journal policy until the editorial board has reviewed, adapted and formally adopted it.

  • The article has not been published before and is not under consideration elsewhere.
  • The manuscript is an editable word-processor file prepared according to the author guidelines.
  • An anonymised version for review is attached, with all identifying information removed, including from file properties.
  • A title page with all authors' details, affiliations and ORCID iDs where available is attached.
  • The Arabic and English abstracts are within the limit, with keywords in both languages.
  • References follow the journal's citation style and include DOIs where available.
  • Tables and figures are numbered and cited in the text.
  • The declarations on funding, competing interests, ethics approvals, data availability and use of AI tools are completed.
  • The authors have written permission to reproduce any copyrighted material from other sources.
  • The completed checklist for the applicable reporting guideline, with page numbers, is attached.
  • The clinical trial registration number and date are stated, where applicable.
  • Research-ethics approval (committee, approval number and date) and participants' informed consent are stated.
  • For case reports, the patient's written consent to publication is attached and identifying information is removed from text and images.
  • All authors meet the authorship criteria, and each author's contribution is stated.

Original Research

Original, previously unpublished clinical and health research that makes a clear contribution to knowledge or method, reported according to the guideline applicable to the study design. Recommended length up to 4,000 words excluding the abstract, tables and references, with a structured abstract (Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions) in Arabic and English of no more than 300 words each. Double-anonymous review by at least two reviewers, and possibly by a statistical reviewer.

Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses reported according to PRISMA, with the flow diagram and checklist supplied; prospective registration of the review protocol in a recognised registry is encouraged. Structured abstract of no more than 300 words in Arabic and English. Double-anonymous review.

Review Articles

In-depth critical reviews of the literature on a defined topic that analyse trends and identify research gaps, rather than merely describing studies. Recommended length up to 9,000 words, with Arabic and English abstracts of no more than 250 words each. Double-anonymous review.

Case Reports

Reports of rare or instructive clinical cases prepared according to the CARE guidelines. Evidence of the written consent of the patient or guardian to publication is required, and the patient must not be identifiable. Recommended length up to 2,500 words, abstract up to 200 words.

Study Protocols

Protocols of planned or ongoing studies whose data collection is not complete, reported according to SPIRIT for clinical trials, with the registration number and ethics approval stated. Abstract up to 300 words.

Short Communications

Preliminary or limited-scope findings of sufficient importance to merit rapid publication. Recommended length up to 3,000 words, abstract up to 150 words. Double-anonymous review.

Letters to the Editor

Brief scholarly comments on material recently published in the journal, or short scholarly observations. Recommended length up to 1,000 words. Assessed by the editorial board and possibly a reviewer; the authors of the original article are offered a right of reply.

Copyright Notice

(D) Draft — must be adopted by the editorial board. This text is a model proposed by the journal starter catalog. It is not an effective journal policy until the editorial board has reviewed, adapted and formally adopted it.

Authors retain copyright in their work and grant the journal the right of first publication. Accepted items are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0) [proposal requiring adoption by the journal], which allows others to copy, distribute, adapt and build on the work for any purpose, provided the authors are credited and the original publication in the journal is acknowledged.

Authors may deposit the published version in institutional or subject repositories or on personal websites with full acknowledgement of its original publication in the journal.

Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to use any third-party material and for acknowledging it in the article.

Privacy Statement

(D) Draft — must be adopted by the editorial board. This text is a model proposed by the journal starter catalog. It is not an effective journal policy until the editorial board has reviewed, adapted and formally adopted it.

Names, e-mail addresses and other personal data entered in this journal's system are used only for the journal's stated purposes: managing submission, review and publication and communicating with users. They are not made available to any other party or used for any other purpose.

Data is processed in accordance with applicable personal-data protection legislation and the policies of the journal's publisher. Reviewers' identities are kept confidential in line with the review model in use, and authors' data is published only to the extent needed to publish and cite their work.

Users can view and correct their data in their profile and may request deletion of their account by contacting the journal, subject to what must be retained to preserve the scholarly record of published items.