Title Page:
In addition to having title of the manuscript at the top, the title page should also include complete name, designation, postal address, office/mobile phone numbers and email address of all the authors. Corresponding author should be clearly mentioned. Information regarding word count of abstract, word count of the body of manuscript, number of tables and figures, number of references, declaration of conflict of interest, grant support and financial disclosure should also be given on the title page. Specimen of title page can be downloaded from ‘make a submission’ page.
The title page should be uploaded as a separate file and should not be merged as a first page of the article file. Please do not state the author’s name, affiliation or contact details anywhere on the manuscript. Such details should only be provided through online journal system in designated fields or on the undertaking certificate.
Sudanese Physiological Society Journal follows double-blind peer review process and the author details are not shared with the peer reviewers within the manuscript or by any other means.
Article Title:
The title should be clear, comprehensive, and concise. The length of title should not exceed 20 words. Do not capitalize the first letter of each word in the title unless it is a proper noun. Do not use abbreviations in the title.
Abstract:
Structure of an abstract should be in accordance to the article type. A structured abstract should consist of the following headings: objective, methodology, results, conclusion, and keywords. An unstructured abstract should follow a logical sequence.
Methodology must contain type, place and duration of study in addition to brief data collection details. Do not use abbreviations and references in abstract. Write the clinical trial number after the abstract in case of randomised controlled trials.Abstracts must be followed by 3–10 Keywords from MeSH. Use appropriate terms from MeSH database to increase search-ability of your study.
Introduction:
It presents a background and rationale for the study and is not the review of literature. It includes global, regional and local reports where appropriate. Cite only strictly pertinent references. State the purpose or objective of the study in the last paragraph without sub-headings. Explain the hypothesis and the requirement of the research. Do not include data or conclusions from the current study.
Methodology:
Do not use sub-headings in this section. Describe the methodology in an organized manner with paragraphs. Components of the methodology which need to be mentioned as applicable are: Permission from institutional review board, ethical review committee certificate as per declaration of Helsinki, study design, study setting, study duration, inclusion and exclusion criteria, sample size calculations with references, sampling method, randomization process in case of RCTs and follow-up period.
Identification of the methods and apparatus (provide the manufacturer’s name and address in parenthesis) and identification of all drugs and chemicals are the mandatory requirements. Any equipment used in the study should give the manufacturer’s name and address. Procedures should be clearly described so as to facilitate others to reproduce them easily.
The statistical methods should be described in a simple manner to enable the reader to judge the correctness of the analysis and results. State the statistical software package used along with the version. References should be included where appropriate. Authors submitting review manuscripts should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarised in the abstract.
Results:
Present the results in a logical sequence in the text, tables and illustrations. Do not repeat all the data of the tables or illustrations in the text. Emphasize or summarise important observations. Frequencies and percentages both should be mentioned, for example, there were 16 (3%) women. Exact p values should be reported. Mean should be with standard deviation. Medians should be with inter-quartile range.
Tables:
Data should be placed clearly and concisely to enable the reader to comprehend easily. Do not repeat the results stated in tables in the text. Tables should be numbered consecutively and cited in the results. Arabic numerals should be used. The title should be short and explanatory and written on top of the table. The columns of the table should have a short heading. Footnotes should elaborate on the abbreviations. If any data or table has been included from a published article, the source should be given.
Illustrations:
Figures and pictures should clarify and augment the text. The selection of sharp, high-quality illustrations is of paramount importance. Figures of inferior quality will be returned to the author for correction or replacement. For x-ray films, scans, and other diagnostic images, pictures of pathology specimens or photomicrographs, high-resolution photographic image files are recommended. Titles should be placed below the figure and detailed explanations should be given as legends and not on the illustrations.
Figures should have consecutive numbers and should be cited in the results accordingly in the text and written as ‘Figure’. Arabic numerals should be used. Original illustrations should be submitted; previously published illustrations are not preferred. If a figure is taken from a previous publication, the source should be given as a reference. Written permission from the publisher should be provided by the author on submission of the manuscript. The legend should include the following: (Reprinted by permission of Ref. X).
Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should stand out on the background. The internal scale should be given, and the method of staining in photomicrographs should be identified.
Any symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters used to identify parts of the illustration should be explained clearly in the legend.
Units of measurement:
System International (SI) Unit measurement should be used. Imperial measurement units like inches, feet etc are not acceptable.
Discussion:
The discussion should begin with a summary of the main results. These are then discussed with results of other published studies. Any new findings of the research should be emphasized and the relevance should be stated. These can be used for future research or clinical practice. Details of methodology or introduction should not be included in the discussion.
Do not repeat in detail data or other information given in other parts of the manuscript, such as in the introduction or the results section. Limitations of the study and future recommendations should be stated at the end of the discussion in a separate paragraph.
Conclusion:
Conclusion should be a brief resume of the study. Do not use any finding which has not been shown in the results. Do not over-emphasize the results. Do not state any benefits which have not been studied. A new hypothesis may be included if determined by the research. No speculations should be included.
Acknowledgement:
Contributors who do not meet all the four criteria for authorship (given in relevent section below), but helped in the study, may be listed in the acknowledgement section. These may be named and their contribution should be described, for example, ‘scientific advisor critical review of study proposal’, ‘data collection’, or ‘participation clinical trial’. Such persons must have given their permission to be named.
Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from person acknowledged by name, because readers may infer their endorsement the data and conclusions. Technical help should be acknowledged in a paragraph separate from those acknowledging other contributions.
Disclaimer:
Disclose if the abstract has been presented or published in a conference or published in an abstract book or any other relevant information. If the article is part of a PhD thesis, it should be disclosed.
Conflict of Interest:
Any conflict of interest should be declared by all authors. This may include grants or honorarium, credits and promotions, memberships or any personal or professional relationships which may appear to influence the manuscript. If there is no conflict of interest, authors should still include this heading and write ‘none to declare’.
Funding Disclosure:
All sources of grants received and its spending should be disclosed. If there is no funding disclosure, authors should still include this heading and write ‘none to declare’.
References:
Sudanese Physiological Society Journal follows Vancouver style of referencing with citation number as ‘superscript’. References should be cited in consecutive numerical order as first mentioned in the text and designated by the reference number in superscript. References appearing in a table or figure should be numbered sequentially with those in text.
The SPSJ follows Index Medicus style for references and abbreviated journal names according to the list of Journals indexed in Index Medicus available from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals. References cited as ‘In Press’ must have been accepted and not merely in preparation or submitted. The author is responsible for the accuracy of all references and must verify them against the original document.
If there are more than six authors, write et al after the sixth name. Authors should use the NLM guide which gives details regarding each citation: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/
Authorship Criteria:
As stated in the ‘Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals’ developed by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, authorship is based upon the following four criteria:
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
- Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
- Final approval of the version to be published; AND
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Each author must sign a statement attesting that he/she fulfils the authorship criteria as mentioned above. SPSJ strongly discourages gift authorship. Mere supervision, collection of data, statistical analysis and language correction do not grant authorship rights. Ideally all authors should belong to same department of an institute, except for multi-centre and multi-specialty studies. The SPSJ discourages submission of more than one article dealing with related aspects of the same study.
Copyrights:
Material printed in this journal being the property of the PJP, are OPEN to access, and are FREE for use in academic and research work with proper citation. The published work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The SPSJ accepts only original material for publication with the understanding that except for abstracts, no part of the data has been published or will be submitted for publication elsewhere before appearing in SPSJ.
The authors accept to transfer copyrights of their articles to Sudanese Physiological Society Journal when published. The Editorial Board of SPSJ makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and authenticity of material printed in SPSP. However, conclusions and statements expressed are views of the authors and do not reflect the opinion/policy of the SPSJ or the Editorial Board.