AJMB

Instructions to Authors

Avicenna Journal of Medical Biotechnology (AJMB) is an open access journal that provides a medium for the publication of both full-length articles and short communications on all aspects of medical biotechnology. The Journal will accept papers ranging from genetic or molecular biological aspects to those covering biochemical, chemical or bioprocess engineering aspects, provided that in each case the material is directly relevant to medical biotechnology systems.

The following areas are covered by the Journal: Medical Biotechnology, New Products, Nucleic Acids, Gene therapy, Molecular Biology, Nanobiotechnology, Bioinformatics, Biodiagnostics, Biochemistry, Biochemical Engineering, Bioprocess Engineering, Transgenic therapeutics, Biotherapeutics, Industrial Processes, Clinical trial reports, Bioethics and Biopharmaceuticals.

AJMB is committed to follow and apply International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and International Standards for Authors and Editors of Committee on Publication Ethics in designing and leading the Journal’s reviewing and publishing process and dealing with its issues. It also follows Principles of transparency and best practice for scholarly publications based on COPE guideline.

Author

 The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he or she has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.

All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged—in the Acknowledgement section of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

The corresponding author is the one individual who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer-review, and publication process. The corresponding author typically ensures that all the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and disclosures of relationships and activities are properly completed and reported, although these duties may be delegated to one or more co-authors. The corresponding author should be available throughout the submission and peer-review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely way, and should be available after publication to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information should questions about the paper arise after publication. 

General principles
Manuscript should follow the last updated recommendations issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) . The text of observational and experimental articles should be divided into sections with the headings Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion. Long articles may need subheadings within some sections to clarify their content. Other types of articles, such as case reports, reviews, and editorials, are likely to need other formats.
The Editors have the right to make editorial corrections and additional changes with the acknowledgment and approval by corresponding author.

Double spacing of all portions of the manuscript- including the title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, references, individual tables, and legends-on A4 paper only, with 2.5 cm margins on all sides make it possible for editors and reviewers to edit the text line by line, and add comments and queries, directly on the paper copy. The manuscripts should be submitted electronically, and the files should be double spaced, because the manuscript may need to be printed out for reviewing and editing. Authors should therefore number all of the pages of the manuscript consecutively, beginning with the title page. Statement of the study's registration at domestic or international databases for RCTs is essential.

All submitted manuscripts in AJMB, undergo plagiarism check by Plagiarism Detection Software ithenticate twice: at the time of submission and before publication.

Technical information
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. Authors should describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results, and should present their results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations, giving the main or most important findings first. Authors should not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. Extra or supplementary materials and technical detail can be placed in an appendix. Tables and figures should be restricted to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Graphs should be used as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables.

Peer Review System
Peer review is the process by which all submitted manuscripts at AJMB editorial office are evaluated by one or more people with similar competences and experiences. It is a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. By peer reviewing quality standards, improved performance, and credibility are maintained. AJMB is committed to apply double-blind peer reviewing process, based on the ICMJE's Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. Peer reviews are handled anonymously and comments are discussed in weekly editorial sessions. Reviews are then sent to the corresponding authors for proposed modifications and the new version of the manuscript will be peer-reviewed for a second time by the same external reviewers.

Types of journal articles

Original Research: The most common type of journal manuscripts received by the journal office are full reports of data from research. It may be called an Original Article or Research Article. The Original Research format is suitable for many different fields and various types of studies in the scope of our journal. It includes full Introduction, Materials/Patients and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion sections. The preceding Abstract at the beginning of the manuscript should not exceed 250 words with 3-8 keywords. Structured abstract must include background, method, result, and conclusion sections separately. Moreover, objective of the study, findings (including its statistical significance), and the conclusion made on the basis of the findings should be clearly stated. Also, authors are suggested to use most specific MeSH terms as keywords rather than the broad and more general headings. Manuscripts of length up to a maximum of 4500 words will be considered for publication.

Review articles: Review papers are high ranked scholarly manuscripts written by experts who not only are aware of the research and technical developments in the field but also are able to critically examine the state-of-the-art and explain viewpoints and provide guidance/ideas for further research in the topic of interest. Therefore, before submission of the paper, it is highly recommended that the potential authors contact the Editor-in-Chief to ensure that the proposed review article is within the scope of the journal and in line with its objectives. In the next step, they need to provide detailed information for the Editor-in-Chief regarding the title of the review, detailed reason and justification for the novelty of the research, and a concise description of the content of the paper including chapter titles. In case of narrative reviews, the corresponding author is required to have an H-index of 5 and make references to at least three of his/her previously published articles in the current narrative review.  In the final step, the Editor-in-Chief will assess the proposal and contact the authors with a decision for submission and peer-reviewing.

Three types of reviews are welcomed in our journal. Narrative reviews consist of title page, unstructured or traditional abstract, keywords, and the text including introduction, discussion, and conclusion. Authors’ contributions, ethical statements, conflict of interest, acknowledgment, references, tables, figures, and legends should be added. Narrative reviews should not exceed 5000 words excluding the references. Systemic reviews with logical methodology are encouraged. The systematic reviews consist of title page, structured abstract, keywords, introduction, materials/patients and methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Authors’ contributions, ethical statements, conflict of interest, acknowledgment, references, tables, figures, and legends should be inserted. Systematic reviews should not exceed 5000 words excluding the references. Moreover, systematic review should follow the same principles of original papers. Mini reviews: The aim of mini-reviews in medical sciences is to publish short reviews on the important recent developments in medicine and relevant disciplines. Mini-reviews should not exceed 1500 words. The same conditions as narrative reviews described above apply.

Case reports: Case reports should be limited to 1500 words excluding the references. They should include abstract not exceeding 1500 words, 3 to 5 keywords compatible with MeSH, introduction, case presentation, discussion, acknowledgment, references, and 1–4 figures. Moreover, it is obligatory to provide evidence and documents regarding the case (s) such as pathology reports, laboratory tests, and images as a complete package at the beginning of submission. In order to follow the rights for the confidentiality of patient identity, the patients’ photographs should not be recognizable. The case report should present a case with unique features in which the novelty and educational purposes will be imparted to the reader.

Letters to the Editor: A Letter to the Editor is a brief communication to a journal’s editor or editorial team. It is mostly written in response to a recent publication within the journal, but can also be a topic of interest to the journal’s readership irrelevant to any previously published articles in the journal. As we promote the intellectual discussion between readers and authors, letters to the editor are encouraged by our journal. They must be unstructured and not exceed 750 words.

Brief /Short Communications: AJMB also encourages the authors to submit brief communications as they are used to report findings that are not suitable for a full research article, but yet reflect the same value. Distinguishing between a full research article and a brief communication is therefore not a question of research quality, but rather depends on the amount of research done and the intricacy and complexity of results. Subheadings should not be inserted but the text should chronologically contain a short background, aim, materials and methods, a short and focused discussion and a short conclusion not exceeding 1,500 words.

Cover letter
The authors should a cover letter at the time of manuscript submission. Authors are welcomed to suggest three to five referees for their paper as well as their choice of the most appropriate Associate Editors; however, the editors cannot guarantee assignment of a particular reviewer to a paper.

Title page
The title page should carry the following information: The title of the article, authors’ names and institutional affiliations, the name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed, disclaimers, if any, The name, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the corresponding author, a running head with no more than 40 characters (count letters and spaces), word counts for the text only (excluding abstract, acknowledgments, figure legends, and references), and the number of figures and tables.

Abstract
Original article should include an abstract including background, methods, results, and conclusion sections in a structured format. Objective of the study, findings (including its statistical significance), and the conclusion made on the basis of the findings should be clearly stated. Review articles should have an unstructured abstract. Nevertheless, the length of an abstract should not exceed 250 words.

Keywords
For indexing purposes, each submitted article should include three to six keywords chosen from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).

Reference style and format
AJMB reference style is based largely on Vancouver style. It is recommended that the EndNote file be used to manage the references in the manuscripts. AJMB website allows access to the EndNote file for this purpose. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in parentheses. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.
Journals
Authors' last names and initials. Title of article. Journal name Year; Volume (number): Inclusive pages (list all authors when six or fewer; when seven or more, list six and add et al). Some examples are given below:
* Ardekani AM, Jabbari S. Nutrigenomics and cancer. Avicenna J Med Biotech 2009;1(1):9-17.
* Hemmati S, Zarnani AH, Mahmoudi AR, Sadeghi MR, Soltanghoraee H, Akhondi MM. Ectopic expression of Sortilin 1 (NTR-3) in patients with ovarian carcinoma. Avicenna J Med Biotech 2009;1(2):125-131.
Book:
Authors' last names and initials. Book title. Edition. City: Publisher; Date.
* Lodish H, Baltimore D, Berk A, Zipursky SL, Matsudaira P, Darnell J. Molecular cell biology. 3rd ed. New York: Scientific American; 1995.
Chapter of a book:
Authors' last names and initials. Title of Chapter. In: editor's name (eds). Book title. City: Publisher; Year, Pages.
* Rezaei N, Bonilla FA, Sullivan KE, de Vries E, Orange JS. An introduction to primary immuno-deficiency diseases. In: Rezaei N, Aghamoham-madi A, Notarangelo LD (eds). Primary immuno-deficiency diseases: definition, diagnosis and man-agement. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag; 2008,1-38.
It is notable that the Index Medicus abbreviations should be used for journal titles.

Tables
Tables should be typed double-spaced on separate sheets, numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals, and only contain horizontal lines. A short descriptive title should appear above each table, with possible legend and footnotes (identified with a, b, c, etc.) below.

Figures
Figures should be either professionally drawn and photographed, or submitted as photographic quality digital prints. In addition to requiring electronic files of figures in a TIF format suitable for printing; authors should review the images of such files on a computer screen before submitting them, to be sure they meet their own quality standard. Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text. If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. Permission is required irrespective of authorship or publisher except for documents in the public domain. Legends for illustrations should be typed using double spacing, starting on a separate page, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one clearly in the legend. Figures should be line drawings in black ink. Figures should be completely labeled, the size of the lettering being appropriate to that of the drawing, taking into account the necessary reduction in size. All legends should be typed double-spaced on separate sheets. If figures are not to be reduced, their format should not exceed 16.0x20.2 cm. Color reproduction is possible. Figure legends have to be submitted on separate sheets.

Ethics
Authors must acknowledge that the protocol for the study has been approved by the appropriate Ethics Committee of the institution within which the work has been conducted and that the research conforms to the provisions of the WMA Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in Fortaleza, Brazil, 2013). Submission of the manuscript should be accompanied with a statement from the authors disclosing all financial and personnel relationship the might bias their work. The authors must announce the name of the institution which has provided the project with any financial grant.
The clinicians who conduct a clinical trial on human subjects and wish to publish the results of their investigations in this Journal should have obtained permission for their clinical trial from Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT), World Health Organization – International Clinical Trials Registry Platform or other well-known clinical trials registries.

Correction

After the manuscript is accepted for publication, a Galley proof of the accepted manuscript will be sent to the author, whom is allowed to correct any matter; however, after the final approval of the Galley proof, corrections are not accepted.

Research Reporting Guidelines

Authors are encouraged to use the EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines for the study type:

Conflict of Interest

Provide a notification regarding potential conflict (s) of interest for authors. If this is not the case, state its absence.

Acknowledgement

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 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").

Submission of manuscripts
Submission of a paper to the AJMB implies: (1) that it is not being submitted for publication elsewhere; (2) the transfer of the copyright from the author to the Publisher. Authors are requested to submit their manuscripts electronically, by using either the online submission at submission.ajmb.org. After registration, authors will be asked to upload their article, an extra copy of the abstract and associated artwork. The submission tool will generate a PDF file to be used for the reviewing process. The submission tool generates an automatic reply and a manuscript number will be generated for future correspondence. Manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter.

Publication charge
There are no charges for publication of the articles in this Journal.

Proofs
Proof will be sent to the author before publication. They should be checked carefully and returned within a week of receipt.