Instructions for author

Open Access Journals bring articles in all areas related to Medicine, Medical, Clinical, Dental, Nursing and many more. Open Access Journals welcomes the submission of manuscripts that meet the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence. Papers will be published approximately 10 days after acceptance.

As a member of Publisher International Linking Association, PILA, Open Access Journals follows the Creative Commons Attribution License and Scholars Open Access publishing policies.

Journal/Publisher policies

Competing Interest

  • A competing interest is applicable when the presented information is influenced by the professional or personal association with a person or an organization.
  • The authors need to declare conflict of interest if any with respect to financial and non-financial (research work) interests.
  • If any competing interest exists with any editor or peer reviewer then they are excluded from handling that manuscript to maintain transparency during the editorial and peer-review process.

Human rights, Animal rights and Informed Consent

  • This policy has been adopted to publish responsible research findings and to endure that all the necessary approvals and consents have been obtained prior to publication of the outcomes.
  • Authors need to testify that their research has been carried out in accordance with the procedure approved by the respective ethical committees of their organizations. The Editor of the journal takes the final decision on the acceptance and rejection of the manuscript that are subjected scrutiny of issues regarding human and animal ethics.
  • Clinical research/trials involving human data, human specimens and human subjects must have been performed in accordance with Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association in 1975 as revised in 2008 concerning Human and Animal Rights under the approval of ethics committee.
  • Justification of the clinical procedure followed may have to be furnished if required by the editor or peer reviewer.
  • Authors are expected to secure informed consent for participation in the study by the human subjects.
  • The experimental procedure and the outcomes involving animal models must comply with the National or International guidelines. Manuscript must include the details (guidelines/permissions/licenses) of such compliance with appropriate references and specifications.

Data sharing

  • Scholarly data includes clinical data, quantitative survey observations, statistical algorithms, transcripts, experimental data, images, videos, audios, etc. The data can be in raw or processed form.
  • The journal encourages sharing of data associated with the research publications for enhancing the chances of accurate reproducibility, better peer-review, better funding opportunity and citations.
  • The authors are encouraged to share research data in public data repositories under open access policy and license terms. Accessibility to the shared data may be indicated in the publications in the form of URL.
  • The data linked to the DOI of the journal enables precise identification and retrieval.

Corrections/Retraction/Withdrawal/Expression of Concern

  • The publisher applies COPE guidelines for the corrections, retractions, withdrawals and expression of concerns.
  • Errors in publications may necessitate corrections and are given as corrigendum or erratum along with original article citation.
  • Concern regarding the conduct or the integrity of the work or fraudulent presentation is generally taken up with the authors sponsoring organization and the response is conveyed to the Editor-in-Chief for addressing adequately.
  • In order to ensure transparency and integrity of the research communications this policy is implemented.
  • Article is subjected to retraction under the following conditions: major technical/scientific/experimental error, unrealistic presentations, data fabrication, redundant publication, plagiarism, inappropriate authorship or unethical research.
  • Editor-in-Chief is the final authority for retraction of the article. The Editor evaluates the author response and follows COPE guidelines prior to the retraction.
  • The notice of retraction is posted online in the next issue of the journal.
  • Article can be withdrawn by the corresponding author prior to the acceptance for publication and not after that or peer-review. Withdrawal is permitted if there is conclusive evidence of violation of ethical code, multiple submission resulting in redundant publication of the previous publication elsewhere, authorship claim issues.

Advertising Policy

  • The publisher provides marketing solutions to commercial endeavors to create awareness among the specific targeted audience.
  • The commercially sponsored advertisements are absolutely independent of editorial policy and decisions.
  • The publisher does not endorse any such advertised products.
  • The publisher ensures that the publications are not in any influenced by the commercial interests.
  • The discretion for selection of advertising content remains with the Publisher.
  • Retention or withdrawal rights of the online advertisements remain with the Editor or the Publisher.
  • Advertisements must comply with the National and International advertising regulation guidelines.

Open Access Journals Policy Regarding the NIH Mandate

Open Access Journals will support authors by posting the published version of articles by NIH grant-holders and European or UK-based biomedical or life sciences grant holders to PubMed Central immediately after publication

Editorial Policies and process

Open Access Journals follow a progressive editorial policy that encourages researchers to submit the original research, reviews and editorial observations as articles, well supported by tables and graphic representation.

Submission

Article submissions should be done using the online Editor Manager System or through E-mail IDs provided at the respective journal’s site.

Resubmission

When you have altered your paper in light of the peer reviewer’s comments and you have written a covering letter to the editor explaining the changes you made or refuting the reviewer’s comments, you are ready to resubmit.
Try to resubmit as soon as you can. Generally, this makes it easier to do as the paper is still fresh in your mind. The scientific world moves very quickly so you want your work published before someone else produces similar work. Once you have resubmitted you will see the status of the paper changed within a specific span of time. If you don’t see this or don’t receive any acknowledgment of your resubmission, please check with the Editorial staff and confirm the receipt of the article by the Editorial Office.

Submission Guidelines

Contents

Any manuscript submitted to any Open Access Journals must be original. The manuscript, or substantial parts of it, must not be under consideration by any other journal/publisher.
In any case where there is the potential for overlap or duplication transparency from the authors is mandatory. Any potentially overlapping publications should be declared on submission and, where possible, uploaded as additional files with the manuscript. Any overlapping publications should be cited. The Editors of Open Access Journals reserve the right to judge potentially overlapping or redundant publications on a case-by-case basis.

Format

Most of the articles published in Open Access Journals will be organized into the following sections: title, authors, affiliations, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, references, acknowledgments, figure legends and table captions. Uniformity in format will help readers and users of the journal. We recognize, however, this format is not ideal for all types of studies. If you have a manuscript that would benefit from a different format, please contact the editors to discuss this further. Although, we have no firm length restrictions for the entire manuscript or individual sections, we urge authors to present and discuss their findings concisely along with maintenance of a logical flow.

Title

The title should be specific to the study yet concise, and should allow sensitive and specific electronic retrieval of the article. It should be comprehensible to readers outside your field. Avoid specialist abbreviations if possible. Titles should be presented in title case, meaning, all words except for prepositions, articles, and conjunctions should be capitalized. If the paper is a randomized controlled trial or a meta-analysis, this description should be in the title. Examples: “Flood Effects on Water Quality and Benthic Fauna Diversity in the Upper Chao Phraya River and the Lower Ping and Nan Rivers, Thailand”. Please also provide a brief "running head" of approximately 40 characters.

Authors and Affiliations

Provide the first names or initials (if used), middle names or initials (if used), surnames, and affiliation details including department, university or organization, city, state/province (if applicable), and country for all authors. One of the authors should be designated as the corresponding author. It is the corresponding author’s responsibility to ensure that the author list and the summary of the author contributions to the study are accurate and complete. If the article has been submitted on behalf of a consortium, all consortium members and affiliations should be listed after the Acknowledgments.

Abstract

The abstract is divided into the following four sections with these headings: Title, Background, Methods and Findings, and Conclusions. It should contain all the following elements, except for items in square brackets, which are only needed for some study types. Please use the same format for abstracts submitted as pre-submission inquiries.

Background:This section should describe clearly the rationale for the study being done. It should end with a statement of the specific study hypotheses and/or study objectives.

Methods and Findings: Describe the participants or what was studied (e.g. cell lines, patient group; be as specific as possible, including numbers studied). Describe the study design/intervention/main methods used/what was primarily being assessed e.g. primary outcome measure and, if appropriate, over what period. [If appropriate, include how many participants were assessed out of those enrolled, e.g., what was the response rate for a survey.] [If critical to the understanding of the paper, describe how results were analyzed, i.e., which specific statistical tests were used.] For the main outcomes provide a numerical result if appropriate (it nearly always is) and a measure of its precision (e.g. 95% confidence interval). Describe any adverse events or side effects.
It is always preferable that the authors describe the main limitations of the study.

Conclusions: Provide a general interpretation of the results with any important recommendations for future research. [For a clinical trial provide any trial identification numbers and names (e.g. trial registration number, protocol number or acronym).]

Introduction

The introduction should discuss the purpose of the study in the broader context. As you compose the introduction, think of readers who are not experts in this field. Include a brief review of the key literature. If there are relevant controversies or disagreements in the field, they should be mentioned so that a non-expert reader can delve into these issues further. The introduction should conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the experiments and a comment about whether that aim was achieved.

Methods

This section should provide enough detail for reproduction of the findings. Protocols for new methods should be included, but well-established protocols may simply be referenced. Detailed methodology or supporting information relevant to the methodology can be published on our Web site. This section should also include another section with descriptions of any statistical methods employed. These should conform to the criteria outlined by the Uniform Requirements, as follows: "Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as the use of P values, which fails to convey important quantitative information. Discuss the eligibility of research participants. Give details about randomization. Describe the methods related to success of any blinding of observations. Authors should report complications of treatment whenever necessary. It is mandatory for the authors to provide the numbers of observations. Data loss during an analysis or observation (such as dropouts from a clinical trial) should be reported by the authors. References for the design of the study and statistical methods should be provided from the standard works when possible (with pages stated) rather than to papers in which the designs or methods were originally reported. Specify any general-use computer programs used."

Results

The results section should include all relevant positive and negative findings. The section may be divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading. Large datasets, including raw data, should be submitted as supporting files; these are published online alongside the accepted article. The results section should be written in past tense. As outlined in the Uniform requirements, authors that present statistical data in the Results section should "...specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as "random" (which implies a randomizing device), "normal," "significant," "correlations," and "sample." Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols."

Discussion

The discussion should be concise and tightly argued. It should start with a brief summary of the main findings. It should include paragraphs on the generalizability, clinical relevance, strengths, and, most importantly, the limitations of the study.
You may wish to discuss the following points also. How do the conclusions affect the existing knowledge in the field? How can future research build on these observations? What are the key experiments that must be done?

References

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors offers guidance to authors in its Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals publication. The recommended style for references is based on the National Information Standards Organization NISO Z39.29-2005 (R2010) Bibliographic References as adapted by the National Library of Medicine for its databases. Details are in Citing Medicine. (Note Appendix F which covers how citations in MEDLINE/PubMed differ from the advice in Citing Medicine). Sample references typically used by authors of journal articles are provided here.

Acknowledgments

People who contributed to the work, but do not fit the criteria for authors should be listed in the Acknowledgments, along with their contributions. You must also ensure that anyone named in the acknowledgments agrees to being so named.
Details of the funding sources that have supported the work should be confined to the funding statement. Do not include them in the Acknowledgments.

Funding

This section should describe sources of funding that have supported the work. Please also describe the role of the study sponsor(s), if any, in study design; collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; writing of the paper; and decision to submit it for publication.

Competing and conflicting Interests

It is important to consider this carefully. If you don’t declare a conflict of interest and you are subsequently found to have one your paper will lose credibility. Conversely, full disclosure of conflict of interest does not prevent a paper being published but does allow you to be open with your readers. This section should list specific competing interests associated with any of the authors. If authors declare that no competing interests exist, we will print a statement to this effect. For guidelines on what is and what is not conflict of interest have a look at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/coi/

Abbreviations

Please keep abbreviations to a minimum. List all non-standard abbreviations in alphabetical order, along with their expanded form. Define them as well upon first use in the text. Non-standard abbreviations should not be used unless they appear at least three times in the text.

Nomenclature

The use of standardized nomenclature in all fields of science and medicine is an essential step toward the integration and linking of scientific information reported in published literature. We will enforce the use of correct and established nomenclature wherever possible: We strongly encourage the use of SI units. If you do not use these exclusively, please provide the SI value in parentheses after each value.

Species names should be italicized (e.g., Homo sapiens) and the full genus and species must be written out in full, both in the title of the manuscript and at the first mention of an organism in a paper; after that, the first letter of the genus name, followed by the full species name may be used.

Genes, mutations, genotypes, and alleles should be indicated in italics. Use the recommended name by consulting the appropriate genetic nomenclature database, e.g., HUGO for human genes. It is sometimes advisable to indicate the synonyms for the gene the first time it appears in the text. Gene prefixes such as those used for oncogenes or cellular localization should be shown in roman: v-fes, c-MYC, etc.

The Recommended International Non-Proprietary Name (rINN) of drugs should be provided.
Accession Numbers

All appropriate datasets, images, and information should be deposited in public resources. Please provide the relevant accession numbers (and version numbers, if appropriate). Accession numbers should be provided in parentheses after the entity on first use. Suggested databases include, but are not limited to:

ArrayExpress
BioModels Database
Database of Interacting Proteins
DNA Data Bank of Japan [DDBJ]
EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database
GenBank
Gene Expression Omnibus [GEO]
Protein Data Bank
UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot
ClinicalTrials.gov
In addition, as much as possible, please provide accession numbers or identifiers for all entities such as genes, proteins, mutants, diseases, etc., for which there is an entry in a public database, for example:
Ensembl
Entrez Gene
FlyBase
InterPro
Mouse Genome Database (MGD)
Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM)
Providing accession numbers allows linking to and from established databases and integrates your article with a broader collection of scientific information.

Figures

If the article is accepted for publication, the author will be asked to supply high-resolution, print-ready versions of the figures. Please ensure that the files conform to our Guidelines for Figure and Table Preparation when preparing your figures for production. After acceptance, authors will also be asked to provide an attractive image to highlight their paper online. Figures may be published under a Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows them to be freely used, distributed, and built upon as long as proper attribution is given. Please do not submit any figures that have been previously copyrighted unless you have express written permission from the copyright holder to publish under the CCAL license.

Figure Legends

The aim of the figure legend should be to describe the key messages of the figure, but the figure should also be discussed in the text. An enlarged version of the figure and its full legend will often be viewed in a separate window online, and it should be possible for a reader to understand the figure without switching back and forth between this window and the relevant parts of the text. Each legend should have a concise title of no more than 15 words. The legend itself should be succinct, while still explaining all symbols and abbreviations. Avoid lengthy descriptions of methods.

Tables

All tables should have a concise title. Footnotes can be used to explain abbreviations. Citations should be indicated using the same style as outlined above. Tables occupying more than one printed page should be avoided, if possible. Larger tables can be published as online supporting information. Tables must be cell-based; do not use picture elements, text boxes, tabs, or returns in tables. Please ensure that the files conform to our Guidelines for Figure and Table Preparation when preparing your tables for production.
Requirements for figures and tables

  1. When you submit an article; tables and figures must be submitted as separate files
  2. Tables must be in Word.doc format
  3. Line Graphs should be in or tif or eps formats, and resolution of 900-1200 dpi. If you are unsure about this, please send us the graph in Microsoft excel format and we will convert it into eps or tif formats.
  4. Photographs containing no text must be in jpg or tif formats with resolution of 500+ dpi. If you do not have tif or eps, please submit as jpg.
  5. Images which contain a combination of text and picture elements must be jpg or tif or eps formats with resolution of 500-1200 dpi. If you do not have tif or eps, please submit as jpg.
    **** Generally, we will NOT accept any images with resolution below 300 dpi. You must submit at least in jpg format, that way we can change it into any other format accordingly.
    **** Please note that all images must be big (greater than the intended size) and of high resolution.
    For more information regarding the image quality requirements, please visit:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/about/PMC_Filespec.html#Image_File_Requirements Please note that we will be strictly enforcing these conditions and files which fail to conform to these requirements will not be considered for publication. image hosting

Article Processing Charges

Open Access Journals is self-financed and does not receive funding from any institution/government. Hence, the Journals operate solely through processing charges we receive from the authors and some academic/corporate sponsors. The handling fee is required to meet its maintenance. Being an Open Access Journal Group, journals do not collect subscription charges from readers that enjoy free online access to the articles. Authors are hence required to pay a fair handling fee for processing their articles. However, there are no submission charges. Authors are required to make payment only after their manuscript has been accepted for publication.