Submissions

Author Guidelines

• Aims and Scope
• Section policies
• Open access policy
• Manuscript submission
• Review procedure
• Format requirements
• Legends for illustrations
• Submission format
• Manuscript checklist
• Publishing fees
• Plagiarism policy
• Ethical statement / Declaration of Conflict of interest
• Authorization letter / copyright disclosure statement / content licensing
• Advertising policy

Aims and Scope
The “QIJMHS”s mission is to engage, inform, and stimulate doctors, researchers and other health professionals in ways that will improve outcomes for patients, research works and improve the healthcare system. We aim to help medical professionals to make better decisions. We are delighted to consider articles for publication from doctors and others, and from all over the world. The average time from submission to initial assessment is two to three weeks and peer review 2-3 months based on the type of articles and availability of peer reviewers. It is always a best practice because it is beneficial for authors for quick decisions that allow them to submit their valuable research work elsewhere without delay. “QIJMHS” provides the recent advances, most up-to-date, original, well designed, well interpreted and significant information in the field of Medical Sciences. “QIJMHS” covers all aspects in the field of Medical Sciences for postgraduate students, research scholars, medical practitioners, pharmacologists, physiologists, psychologists, epidemiologists etc. Publication Frequency: The Journal publishes biannually. Articles will be published at the earliest after acceptance. Minimum duration of the initial assessment to publication is 8-12 weeks. The Editorial Board and its advisory board consist of renowned doctors and scientists from Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and other countries. Acceptances of articles are based on the originality and scientific merit of the research work. All studies should have the approval of a relevant animal and human ethics committee. The manuscript decision is solely based on the peer review process and editorial decisions. Articles will be published after acceptance without delay. We publish manuscripts based on the following sections:

• Editorial
• Letter to editor
• Short communications
• Current research trends
• Case reports & case series
• Original research
• Student research
• Review articles (narrative and systematic)
Section Policies Editorial
Open Submissions; Indexed Original Articles
Open Submissions, Indexed, Peer Reviewed Reviews
Open Submissions, Indexed, Peer Reviewed Current Research Trends
Open Submissions, Indexed, Peer Reviewed Short Communications
Open Submissions, Indexed, Peer Reviewed Case Reports & Case Series
Open Submissions, Indexed, Peer Reviewed Letters to the Editor
Open Submissions, Indexed

Open Access Policy
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
“QIJMHS” receives original material of interest to the practitioners and scientists in the field of Medical Science. Articles describing original clinical or laboratory investigations and case reports will be considered for publication. From time to time invited articles, editorials and reviews of selected topics will be published. Manuscripts, including illustrations, tables and figures must be original and not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
QIJMHS, has agreed to receive manuscripts in accordance with the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals,” as cited in N. Engl. J. MED., 1997, 336: 309-15. The Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication, can be obtained from the website http://www.icmje.org

Repository policy

Quest International Journal of Medical and Health Sciences is listed to Romeo.

Web link: https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/43869

Manuscript templates

Short communication

Case report

Original article

Narrative review (Unstructured)

Narrative review (Structured)

Manuscript Submission
The author/s should submit a soft copy of the manuscript and a separate copy of the figures and tables to the Editor, QIJMHS. All submissions must be online.

View submission process

E-mail: qijmhs.editor@qiup.edu.my
All manuscripts should be accompanied by a covering letter from the author responsible for correspondence regarding the manuscript. The undersigned co-authors of the article should contribute significantly to the manuscript and share in the responsibility for the above. The undersigned should stipulate that the material submitted to QIJMHS is new, original and has not been submitted to another publication for concurrent consideration.
Authors also attest that any human and /or animal studies undertaken as part of the research from which the manuscript was derived are in compliance with the regulation of our institution(s) and with generally accepted guidelines governing such work. Authors should further attest that they have herein disclosed any and all financial or other relationships which could be construed as a conflict of interest and that all sources of financial support for the study have been disclosed and are indicated in the acknowledgement. This statement must be signed by all the major co-authors.
The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:
Available online: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html, accessed on 13.2.18

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.

Non-Author Contributors
Contributors who meet fewer than all 4 of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged. Examples of activities that alone (without other contributions) do not qualify a contributor for authorship are the acquisition of funding; general supervision of a research group or general administrative support; and writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading. Those whose contributions do not justify authorship may be acknowledged individually or together as a group under a single heading (e.g. “Clinical Investigators” or “Participating Investigators”), and their contributions should be specified (e.g., “served as scientific advisors,” “critically reviewed the study proposal,” “collected data,” “provided and cared for study patients”, “participated in writing or technical editing of the manuscript”).
Because acknowledgement may imply endorsement of acknowledged individuals of a study’s data and conclusions, editors are advised to require that the corresponding author obtain written permission to be acknowledged from all acknowledged individuals.

Review Procedure
QIJMHS follows a double-blind peer-review process. Submitted manuscripts are reviewed for originality, significance, adequacy of documentation, reader interest and composition. The manuscript not submitted according to instructions will be returned to the author for correction prior to beginning the peer review/process.
Revised manuscripts are judged on the adequacy of responses to suggestions and criticisms made during the initial review. All accepted manuscripts are subject to editing for scientific accuracy and clarity by the office of the Editor.

File formats & requirements
The following word processor file formats are acceptable for the main manuscript document:
» Microsoft word
» Rich text format

General Requirements
The manuscript must be written in English. Whenever there is any doubt, authors should seek the assistance of experienced, English-speaking medical editors. A medical editor should review the final draft of the original and any revision of the manuscript. Manuscripts for Research articles submitted to QIJMHS should be divided into the following sections (in this order):
• Title page
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Background
• Methods
• Results and discussion
• Conclusions
• List of abbreviations used (if any)
• Competing interests
• Authors’ contributions
• Authors’ information
• Acknowledgments
• Endnotes
• References
• Illustrations and figures (if any)
• Tables and captions

Preparing additional files
Type the manuscript on A4 size with margins of at least 1.5 inches (4 cm) all over the page. The text should be typed in double spacing on every page. Begin each of the following sections on separate pages and in the following order: title page, abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, references, tables and figures (each on a separate page) and legends. Number pages consecutively, beginning with the title page. Type the page number in the upper right-hand corner of each page.

Title Page
The title page of the manuscript should include:
Concise and informative title (less than 200 characters);
Complete by line, with first, middle initial and last name of each author. Up to five authors may be cited, rest will be et al or recognize as acknowledgement;
Complete affiliation for each author, with the name of the department (s) and institution (s) to which the work should be attributed;

Disclaimer, if any;
Name, address, mobile/telephone number and email address of the corresponding author of the manuscript is necessary;
Source of support in the form of grants equipment, drugs, or all of these;

Word count:

Abstract
Provide on a separate page a structured abstract of not more than 250 words for the original article. The structured abstract should consist of four paragraphs, background, methods, results and conclusion. They should briefly describe, respectively, the problem being addressed in the study, how the study was performed, the salient result and what the authors conclude from the results.

Introduction 
State the purpose of the article and summarize the rationale for the study or observation. Give only strictly relevant references and do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported. Clearly mention the objective(s) of the study in this section without adding any sub-heading.

Materials & Methods
Describe your selection of the observational or experimental subjects (patients or laboratory animals, including controls). The definition and relevance of race and ethnicity are ambiguous. Authors should be particularly careful about using these categories.
Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer’s name and address in parenthesis) and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Mention setting, study design, sampling method, sample size, inclusion/exclusion criteria wherever applicable. Give references to established methods if necessary, provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s) and route(s) of administration.
Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements including the protocol (study population, interventions or exposures, outcomes and the rationale for statistical analysis), assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups) and the method of masking (blinding).
Authors submitting review manuscripts should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.

Ethics
When reporting experiments on human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 1983. Do not use patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institutions or a national research council’s guide for or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Statistics
The author(s) must indicate the independent and dependent variable clearly.
All the statistical analyses must be done completely according to the procedures.
Descriptive statistics must be presented using an appropriate tabulation method to enable the readers to understand the insight of the data.
If studies involve Hypothesis testing, it must be tested using either univariate or multivariate analyses.
Briefly justify the type of statistics used and the software used to perform the analysis for the study in methodology.

Results
Present your results in logical sequence in the text, tables and illustrations. Do not repeat in the text all data in the tables or illustrations. Emphasize or summarize important observations.

Discussion
Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the introduction or the results section. Include in the discussion section the implications of the findings and their limitations including implications for future research. Relate the observations to other relevant studies.
Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by the data. In particular, authors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analyses. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed.

Acknowledgements
Persons who have contributed intellectually to the paper but whose contributions do not justify authorship may be named and the function or contribution is described – for example, “administrative approvals”, “scientific advisor critical review of study proposal”, “data collection” etc.. Such persons must have given their permission to be named. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from a person acknowledged by name, because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions. Technical help should be acknowledged in a paragraph separate from those acknowledging other contributions.

References
References should be cited in consecutive numerical order at first mentioned in the text and designated by the reference number in parenthesis. References appearing in a table or figure should be numbered sequentially with those in the text.
The reference list must be typed double spaced and numbers consecutively, as in the text. The Journal follows the Vancouver style for references and abbreviated journal names. “Unpublished observations” and “personal communications” should not be used as references, although written-not verbal communications may be noted as such in the text. 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.
Please click on the links below to view the Vancouver style reference. http://guides.lib.monash.edu/citing-referencing/vancouver
http://guides.lib.monash.edu/ld.php?content_id=14570618

Abbreviations and Symbols
With the exception of units of measurement, Journal discourages the use of abbreviations, for additional information on proper medical abbreviation; consult the CBE (Council of Biology Editors) style Manual, Fifth Edition (Bethesda, MD Council of Biology Editions, 1983). When an abbreviation is used, it should be preceded by the full word or name of the item being abbreviated.

Drug Names
Generic names should generally be used. When proprietary brands are used in research, include the brand name in parentheses in the methods section (this needs to be taken from the CPSP hand out)

Tables
Type each table double-spaced on a separate page. Do not submit tables as photographs. Tables should be self-explanatory and should supplement, not duplicate the text. Each table must be cited in consecutive numerical order in the text. Number the tables consecutively with an Arabic number following the word Table. The titles should be descriptive, brief and typed centered in upper and title, column headings and at the end of the table. Do not use vertical lines. Give each column a short or abbreviated heading.
Place explanatory matter in footnotes not in the heading. Use the following symbols in this sequence *,**,X,+,++,#. Expand in the footnote all non-standard abbreviations used in each table. For footnotes, identify statistical measures of variations, such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean. If data from another published source are used, obtain written permission from the publisher of the original source and acknowledge fully. If data from an unpublished source are used, obtain permission from the principal investigator and acknowledge fully.

Illustrations
Illustrations 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.
Submit two complete sets of glossy illustrations, no smaller than 3-1/2×5 inches nor larger than 8×10 inches. Do not send original artwork. Glossy photographs of line drawings rendered professionally on white drawing paper in black India ink, with a template or typeset lettering, should be submitted. No hand-drawn or typewritten art will be accepted. Letters, numbers and symbols (typeset or template) must be clear and of sufficient size to retain legibility after reduction.
Each illustration must be numbered and cited in consecutive order in the text. Illustrations should be identified on a gummed label affixed to the back of each illustration and containing the following information: figure number, part of the figure (if more than one) and designation of “top”.

Legends for Illustrations
Legends for illustrations should be concise and should not repeat the text. Legends should be typed double-spaced on a separate page. Each figure should be cited in consecutive numerical order in the text. Give the figures a number following the word Figure. Use letters to designate parts of the illustrations (e g, A, B, C) and describe each part clearly in the legend. Any letter designations or arrows appearing on the illustration should be identified and described fully.
Original (not previously published) illustrations are preferred for publication in the Journal; however, if illustrations have been published previously, authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from the publisher to reprint. The source of the original material must be cited in the references and the following credit line included in the legend (reprinted by permission of Ref. X). All permission release must be submitted to the Editor at the time of manuscript submission. .JPG, .PNG, .BMP is the accepted format of the figures if required to be uploaded separately.

Submission Format

Review:
Preferably 4000 words excluding title page and an unstructured abstract of 200 words and references with no more than five tables or figures and 45 references.

Original article:
Preferably 3000 words excluding title page and a structured abstract of 250 words and references with no more than three tables or figures and 30 references.

Short Communications / Case report/ Case Series/ Current research trend:

Preferably 1500 words, excluding the title page and an unstructured abstract of 150 words and references with no more than two tables or figures and 10 references. It should not be signed by more than six authors.

Case Report/Series: Abstract; introduction; case report; discussion and conclusion.

Current research trend: Abstract; introduction; methods; result; and conclusion.

Letter to the Editor:

Preferably 250 words, if it is in reference to a recent journal article or 400 words in all other cases. It must have no more than five references and one figure or table. It must not be signed by more than three authors. Letters referring to a recent journal article must be received within four weeks of its publication.

Prepare original double-spaced typed manuscript.

Mention the type of submission in your cover letter with a word count. Title page with title, authors' names and complete affiliations; corresponding author, complete address, telephone number and email address (necessary), author for reprint requests and complete address. References in consecutive numerical order. Reference list typed double space. Figures and Tables in consecutive numerical order.

Legends for all figures typed, double spaced. Consent forms for patient photographs. Written permission from the publisher to reprint previously published figures and tables.

Manuscript checklist/submission preparation checklist

• As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
• The submission file is in Microsoft Word file format.
• Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
• The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point Calibri font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
• If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed. 

Publication Fees

Currently, there is no publication fee to publish in the journal.

Plagiarism Policy

1. The Journal follows the authorship guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
2. The Journal follows the standard international definition and description of plagiarism.
3. The Journal assigns equal responsibility of the intellectual integrity of the manuscript to all authors whose names appear on the manuscript/article. When submitting a manuscript, the Journal requires that all authors sign a statement accepting this responsibility.
4. This statement must indicate that no part of the manuscript has been plagiarized.
5. Any such material should be made accessible to the Editor and should only be used with references according to the guidelines of authorship. This may otherwise form the basis of a redundant publication/duplicate publication/"salami-slicing" and appropriate action may be taken by the Editor which may range from rejection of the manuscript to debarment of the authors(s) from further publication in the Journal.
6. It is emphasized that the Journal considers self-plagiarism as equally unethical as plagiarism in any other form. If material is to be used from the author's previous work, standard referencing guidelines must be followed.
7. All manuscripts submitted to the Journal will be checked for plagiarism. If a manuscript submitted for publication (or a manuscript accepted for publication or an article that has already been published in the Journal) is found to be based on plagiarized material, the Editor will be obliged to write to the author(s) seeking an explanation. The corresponding author will be required to respond with an explanation within 30 days of receiving the letter from the editor.
8. Any such manuscript for review will be held up till the matter is resolved.
9. After receiving the author's explanation, if considered necessary, the Editor may also send a letter of information to the Head of the Institution or any other relevant authority at the author(s) institution.
10. In case an acceptable explanation is provided by the author(s), the Editor may recommend appropriate changes, after which the review process for the submitted manuscript may commence.
11. In case of failure of the author(s) to either respond within the stipulated time or in case they are unable to provide a suitable explanation, the Editor will convene a meeting of the Plagiarism Committee of the Board of Editors of the Journal to consider further action.
12. Further action will depend upon the nature of the offence and may include rejection of the manuscript from publication along with possible debarment of the author(s) from further publishing in the Journal. The period of debarment will depend upon the nature of the offence and may range from a period of a few months to permanent.
13. Information regarding this action may be published in the forthcoming issue of the Journal on a numbered page. Plagiarism, if detected and proven, would be considered a punishable offence. Immediate and unbiased action will be taken.

12. Ethical Statement

The manuscript submitted to the journal should follow all procedures in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 1983. Ethical clearance from appropriate authorities should be submitted for original articles. Please follow the link to view WHO guidelines (2015) in Global health ethics: key issues http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/164576/1/9789240694033_eng.pdf

View the Publication Ethics for more details.

Authors should declare that no unfair or unethical means have been employed to produce this manuscript and that no part of the submission has been plagiarized in any form. Before submission authors should be aware of the QIJMHS, Plagiarism Policy which they should read on the Journal website and are in total compliance with it.

Authors also attest that any human and /or animal studies were undertaken as part of the research, from which this manuscript was derived, are in compliance with the regulation of the respective institution(s) and with generally accepted guidelines governing such work.

The authors further attest that they have herein disclosed any and all financial or other relationships which could be construed as a conflict of interest and that all sources of financial support for this study have been disclosed and are indicated in the acknowledgement.

Authorization letter/copyright disclosure statement/content licensing

Articles in the QIJMHS are Open Access articles; published & licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) - Creative Commons CC BY License.

The licensor permits others to share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. The licensor permits others to adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Authors are free to:

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
This license is acceptable for Free Cultural Works.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

More about Financial competing interests

When completing your declaration, please consider the following questions:

In the past five years have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future? Is such an organization, financing this manuscript (including the article-processing charge)? If so, please specify.

Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript? If so, please specify.

Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the manuscript?

Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript? If so, please specify.

Do you have any other financial competing interests? If so, please specify.

Non-financial competing interests

Are there any non-financial competing interests (political, personal, religious, ideological, academic, intellectual, commercial or any other) to declare in relation to this manuscript? If so, please specify. If you are unsure as to whether you or one of your co-authors, has a competing interest, please discuss it with the editorial office.

The covering letter should also contain a statement that the manuscript has been seen and approved by all authors and should give any additional information which may be helpful to the Editor. If there has been any prior publication of any part of the work, this should be acknowledged and appropriate written permission included.