Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal
Author Guidelines
General tips
(1) Manuscripts should be written in simple, concise and grammatical English, within the size limits specified for each type of article, prepared according to the guidelines below.
(2) The main text of the manuscript should be written in a standard word processing program (e.g., Microsoft Word) using Times New Roman font size 12, 1.5 line-spaced, A4 page size with 2.5-cm margins on all sides of the paper, in one column and submit as doc, docx, or rtf file.
(3) It is advised not to use underline in the text and avoid footnotes.
(4) The text should not be in the status of track changes and should not have any comments or highlights.
(5) All dimensions and measurements must be specified in the metric system.
(6) Abbreviations, if used, should be defined on their first appearance in the text (separately in the abstract and in the main text).
(7) In the submission process, at meta data stage, all authors must be entered exactly according to the title page of the article and in the same order, and each must have an email.
Article types and limits
Words in abstract
Words in main text*
Max References
Figures/tables
Research articles
250
3000
50
8
Review articles
250
4500
120
8
Systematic review
250
6000
160
8
Short articles
250
2500
30
8
Case reports
250
2000
20
6
Editorial
not required
1000
10
1
*excluding title page, abstract, key words, figures and tables legends and references
Article sections
Research Articles, Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, and Short articles: Title page, Abstract and key words, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Footnotes (including Acknowledgements, Author’s contributions, Conflict of Interests, Funding/Support, Ethical considerations), References, Tables, and Figures. In some review articles, Methods and Results sections may not be necessary.
Case reports: Title page, Abstract and key words, Introduction, Case presentation, Discussion, Footnotes (including Acknowledgements, Author’s contributions, Conflict of Interests, Funding/Support, Ethical considerations),, References, Tables, and Figures.
Editorial: Should not be divided into subheadings and should be arranged as in the table above. It could be a comment on the article previously published in the Journal. There should be a direct reference to such article in the text of editorial.
Details of manuscript sections
(1) Title page: The title page should provide manuscript title; full names of all authors and their institutional addresses; name, full institutional address, phone, and email of the corresponding author; running title of no more than 60 characters, including spaces; number of tables and figures. The manuscript title and running title should not be written entirely in capital letters and only the first letter of the first word should be capitalized. All this information should be on one page.
(2) Abstract: The abstract should be on the second page of the file. First give the title of the article again and then the text of abstract. The abstract should be comprehensive but concise consisting of no more than 250 words and should be structured into five paragraphs: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusion. It should be followed by a list of 3-5 carefully chosen keywords, which should be in accordance with MeSH system. In some review articles, the abstract can be unstructured. The abstract should be on one page.
(3) Introduction: Introduction should be start from the beginning of the third page and should present state of knowledge up-to-date, the aim and the background of the studies and explain how original is the aim. At the end of the introduction, the purpose of the study should be stated under the heading of objectives.
(4) Methods: It should be start from the beginning of the page. Methods should describe the investigated group, applied methods and the statistical analysis. Experimental procedures should be given in sufficient detail to allow these to be replicated by other researchers. The source of the various materials used in the study should be given, where possible.
(5) Results: It should be start from the beginning of the page. Results should be presented very in a logical fashion, with no need for the reader to solve. Tables and figures should complement the text of the results, not contain duplicate data, be given at the end of the file and referenced in the text. Regarding the P value report, keep in mind that the value 0.000 is not valid and should be written as <0.001.
(6) Discussion: It should be start from the beginning of the page. The obtained results should be discussed in the light of any previous research and available literature. In discussion one should not repeat the results presented in the results section.
(7) Conclusions. Conclusions should refer to the aims of study and be presented in precise form.
(8) Footnotes: It should be start from the beginning of the page and includes the following:
(a) Acknowledgements: The authors should first acknowledge the sources of any support for the work in the form of grants, equipment, or drugs presented in their article followed by any personal credits.
(b) Author’s contributions: Based on the ICMJE guidelines for authorship criteria, you should explain in what areas each author has contributed to the article including: Conceptualization and methodology, Data collection, Data analysis and interpretation, Drafting the article, Revising and final approval of the manuscript.
(c) Conflict of Interests: Include a detailed disclosure of any competing interests (financial or others) that may have affected the research or the conclusions drawn from the study. If none, state 'None to declare′.
(d) Funding/Support: All manuscripts should have a funding/support statement. The funding agency should be written out in full, followed by the grant number. If none, state 'None′.
(e) Ethical statements: It should include ethical principles, ethical codes, registration number in clinical trial registries approved by the World Health Organization (if applicable), and any points related to the observance of ethics in the manuscript.
(9) References. Authors must ensure that all references are cited accurately and those in the main text body are also included in the list of references and vice versa. References should list all the bibliographical sources cited in the text, in the order of their appearance. Citations in the text should be put in square brackets. Standard abbreviations should be used for journal names (according to Index Medicus). All references should be compiled at the end of the paper in the Vancouver style. References must be out of EndNote mode, in text format. Doi or PMID or PMCID is required if available.
(10) Tables: Tables should be given at the end of the file after the references. They should complement and not repeat information provided in the main text body. Each table should be given on a separate page with a brief title; the table number and title appear above the table body. All table columns must have a heading and any abbreviations or statistical test should be explained in footnotes. Regarding the P value report, keep in mind that the value 0.000 is not valid and should be written as <0.001. Tables must be created in Microsoft Word. All rows and columns should have simple border line and no shading.
(11) Figures and photos: Figures and photos should be numbered in sequence using Arabic numerals and they should be given at the end of the file after the last table. Each figure or photo should be given on a separate page. The legend of the figure should come after that. The authors could submit an electronic version of the figures included as separate files. Every figure and photo should be titled and pointed where it should appear in a main text. Authors can also submit figures files individually in following formats: TIF at the standard resolutions (i.e. 300 dpi for photos, 600 dpi for line art), JPG, JPEG, PNG, all sized at the final print size. Other figure formats may be supported, but DO NOT USE PDF, PPT, or PS files.
Manuscript submission
Manuscript are submitted electronically through the online system. To submit each manuscript, it is necessary to send the following files according to the instructions mentioned above: title page; anonymous manuscript file (containing title and abstract on the first page and all subsequent parts including tables and figures); plagiarism check file (includes all parts of the article except the title page, references, tables and figures); cover letter, and figures (optional).
Article processing fee
The article review process is free of charge, but once accepted, authors are required to pay for the publication of the article in accordance with the journal's policies.
