Manuscript preparation

Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the "Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals" developed by the ICMJE, and available at http://www.icmje.org/. ICMJE developed these guidelines to review and establish the best practices and ethical standards in the research conduct and reporting for medical journals, and to help authors, editors, reviewers and publishers creating and disseminating an accurate, clear, reproducible, unbiased researches. SJMS follows ICMJE “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals”.

• General considerations:
• The manuscript text should be formatted into sections, according to the “IMRAD” structure (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion Sections; and subheadings are acceptable).
• References list, of course, must be provided at the end of the manuscript.
• Other types of manuscripts (e.g., meta-analyses, case reports, narrative reviews and editorials) may require different structured formats, according to specific guidelines.
• The SJMS recommends the use of available specific guidelines for reporting of different study types (e.g., CONSORT (www.consort-statement.org) for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies (http://strobe-statement.org/), PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (http://prisma-statement.org/), and STARD for studies of diagnostic accuracy (http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/stard/) and for an extensive list of regulations, visit national library of medicine (NLM) Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives By Organization, at https://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/research_report_guide.html. 
• Title
• Title should be concise, and informative. Population type should be specified in the title, as much as possible. The study design information should be a part of the title (particularly for Case Reports, Randomized Trials, Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses). The key terms in a title should be arranged, from (exposure, outcome, population, study type), as in the following examples: “Effect of Maternal Exposure to bisphenol-A on the neonatal outcome”.
• Author information
• Author information must include each author’s full name, highest academic degree, their affiliation (department, institution and country should be included). A working example for author’s affiliation [Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt]. This data must be provided during the submission process. Author’s email address is the mandatory beginning point of each author’s data entry. The SJMS recommends the listing of authors’ Open Researcher and Contributor Identification (ORCID) number, researcher ID or any equivalent.
• Abstract

A structured abstract (divided into sections: Background, the Aim, Patients and Methods, Results and Conclusions) is required. The accepted word count is 150 to 300 words. It should highlight new and vital aspects of the study, and reflect its value. It is our recommendations to warrant that, your abstract is accurately reflect the content of your article, as the abstract is crucial for indexing and usually the first part read by researchers.  The trial registration number and source of funding could be submitted after the abstract.

• Introduction
• Introduction should provide a background for the study (the nature of the research problem and its importance to the scientific community). It must reflect what is already known about the problem, the gab of knowledge (what is not known), and the value the study will add to known literature (the potential contribution of the manuscript in filling some of the knowledge gap). Only pertinent and most recent references are encouraged for citation. The objective or the aim of the work could be included at the end of introduction or put under a separate subsequent heading.
• Patients and Methods [Methodology]
• Methods must be clear, describe how and why a study was performed. It should be sufficiently detailed to be reproducible (e.g., others with access to the data would be able to independently reproduce the results). Only data used at the study protocol writing will be included in the methodology section. Any data obtained during the implementation must be addressed in the results section. An ethical review and approval by local or international boards statement must be provided and any deviation for standard research conduction and reportion should be rationalized – if occurred.
• The study participants or samples must be described in details. Mainly, the inclusion methods, eligibility, and exclusion criteria must be clarified. The sample size justification (determination of the sample and method of sampling) must be provided and methods of randomization must be included when applicable. Authors should use neutral, precise, and respectful tone to describe the study participants and the use of any stigmatizing terms must be avoided.
• The primary (main) and secondary outcomes of the study must be specified in detail. Specific methods and any used equipment (instrument, hard or soft) must be described and linked to the manufacturer (the name and address provided in parentheses).
• The procedures must be written in details to permit reproduction or returned to their original references (where details could be found), and a brief summary must be included.
• Any used drugs or chemicals must be presented by their generic name(s), dose(s), and administration route(s).
• Statistical methods used in the analysis must be included with sufficient details to permit judgement of its appropriateness and to verify the results. Statistical terms, abbreviations or any symptoms must be defined. The software package, their manufacturer or distributer and its version must be provided.
• Results
• Results must be presented in a logical sequence in a text, tabular or graphical formats. The most important results must be presented at first. Data presented in tables must not iterated in the text or graphs. Results about all primary and secondary outcomes (identified in methods section) must be included. An appendix could be added to include supplementary materials and any technical details. Graphs used as alternatives to tables with many entries, provided that, it clear and informative.  
• Discussion
• This section wisely starting by short summary of the significant results, followed by exploration of potential mechanisms or explanations for reported results. The new and important results must be confirmed; and results put in the context of the relevant evidence.
• Iteration of detailed results are not recommended, especially when detailed in previous sections.
• Limitations of the study, potential implications, future research direction, and recommendations clinical practice or policymaking must be included.
• The conclusions must be linked the aim of the study and any unqualified sentences or conclusions must be avoided. In addition, any statements on economic impacts must be avoided unless the manuscript results include the appropriate facts.
• References
• Direct references to original research sources should be included. The citation of pseudo- or predatory journals should be avoided. References to accepted, un-published papers should be presented as “in press”. Information from articles under publication should be cited in the text as “unpublished data” with permission from the source. A “Personal communication” or retracted article citation are not accepted. References should be numbered consecutively according their order in which they are first appeared in the text. In the manuscript text, references are identified by Arabic numerals, in superscript parentheses.  Repeated references use the same first number assigned for them. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used for MEDLINE (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals). The national library of medicine (NLM) format for references must be used in reference list. Next are working examples.
• Original Article “Yousef A, Elsaied M, Yeh S. Neonatal outcome after exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. Arch Obstet Gynecol. 2020 Feb;127(2):179-86. DOI: 1001/ArchObstetgynecol.2020.564”. The use of unique digital object identifier “DOI” is recommended. Other identifiers “e.g., PubMed PMID, PubMed Central PMCID” are optionally requirement.
• To check other comprehensive list of all available reference types, visit “https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html”
• Tables
• Tables usually used to summarize data, whenever possible. SJMS recommended inclusion of tables in the end of the submitted manuscript after references list, or at their desired position in the text. Table’s title should be short but self-explanatory, informative, and must be cited in text (by its logical sequential number). Each column must have a short or an abbreviated heading. Footnotes and abbreviations must be included under each table to explain data in tables.
• Tables of original data are usually appropriate for electronic not printable formats. An appropriate statement should be added to inform readers about availability and location of this additional information. SJMS recommends online submission of such data as a supplementary material to be available for editorial and peer review.
• Figures (graphs or illustrations)
• Digital images submitted in a suitable format for printing. Radiological and histopathology figures must be of high-quality. SJMS usually asks author consent to redraw or manipulate images for better representation in the printed issues. Thus, letters, numbers, and any symbols on figures should be clear, large enough and consistent throughout all figures. Photomicrographs must have internal scale.
• Symbols, arrows, or letters should be contrasted with the background, and methods of staining must be provided in the image legend. Figures must be numbered in a consecutive logical pattern and must be cited in text.
• Sources of previously published figures must be acknowledged with permission of copyright holder, except those in public domains.
• Units of Measurement
• SJMS recommends the use of units of “International System of Units”. However, any equivalents are accepted.
• Abbreviations and Symbols
• The use of standard abbreviations is highly recommended by the SJMS. Abbreviations in article title is not permitted.
• The complete spelled-out abbreviations must be followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis. Then used in the abbreviation format in the next sections of the article. No abbreviations without prior complete spelling out are permitted even if the abbreviation is a well-known for researchers in the field. Only standard unit of measurement are permitted.

Manuscript format

• Paper format )font type: Times New Roman; font size: 12 points; Line spacing: single or dobule spaced; number of pages in the bottom middle; paper size: A4; margins: 2.5 cm margin (up, down, right and left) and all manuscript written in one column.

Manuscript submission

• Manuscripts are fully submitted through an electronic submission system, at the SJMS online site. Our online submission system is a simple stepwise approach.
• Editable files (e.g., doc, docx, etc..) are accepted to ease the typeset of the manuscripts for final publication.
• New users should register an account. The registration process is completely free but mandatory to track the publication process of the submitted articles.
• Editorial team will appreciate all feedback, deal with any ethical disputes or misconduct and solve any problems facing authors.
• Authors are instructed to just contact the managing editor at journal contact details.  
• For simplicity and more compliance, SJMS editorial team asked the authors to submit his/her manuscript as a single file. However, it must be anonymized and authors data must be provided only on submission system, in the title page or copyright form.
• The SJMS recommends attachment of raw data used in analysis as a supplementary file. Sometimes the data must be supplied to go on with the process of publication.