Instructions to Authors

 

Aim and Scope

The Journal of Research on History of Medicine (RHM) encourages researchers in the field of history of medicine to submit historical articles in the whole fields of medical sciences from ancient to contemporary periods, all around the world and we have no publication or processing fee. Its domains includes development of medical sciences, biography of medical scientists, evidence based researches on historical aspects of medicine, archeological researches and roots of traditional approaches medical sciences.

 

Editorial Independency

Although the RHM journal is sponsored financially by Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, it benefits from editorial freedom. The editors evaluate and accept articles based only on significance, originality, validity, and adherence to the aims and scope of the journal.

Our editorial policy is consistent with the principles of editorial independence presented by WAME.

http://www.wame.org/resources/policies#independence

 

Assignment of Authorship Responsibilities

Your article will not be published unless you warrant that “This article is an original work, has not been published before, and is not being considered for publication elsewhere in its final form either in printed or electronic form”. The corresponding author of each article while submitting it, must provide a cover letter to the editor, mentioning the above information, and after signing it by all the authors of the article, he/she must scan the file in the attachment and send the article.

 

Submission of Manuscripts

Manuscripts must be in Word 2007 program and authors should register in the RHM Journal website at: (https://rhm.sums.ac.ir/contacts?_action=signup) and submit their papers through the online submission system. When a manuscript is submitted, a Ref. Num. is devoted to it. Correspondence had to use this number in connections. If an article is accepted to publish; authors must submit permissions to reproduce copyrighted material and must sign an agreement for the transfer of copyright to the Journal. All accepted manuscripts, artwork, and photographs become the publisher's property.

 

Language of the Journal

The journal has previously accepted and published articles in all three languages, English, Persian and Arabic but from 2019, it accepts only English articles.

 

Manuscript types

Several types of articles are available to publish in the Journal of Researches on History of Medicine. They are described and explained in the below table.

Type of article	Abstract	Word count limitation (including abstract, text and references)	Tables and figures limitations	References limitation
Original researches	150-300 words	5000 words	No limitation	No limitation
Review	150-300 words	6000 words	No limitation	No limitation
Short communication	up to 250 words	1500 words	2 tables or figures	20 references
Letter to editor	N/A	800 words	1 tables or figures	8 references
Historical image	N/A	250-500 words	1 figure (it is necessary)	4 references
Biography	N/A	1500 words	2 tables or figures	10 references
Bibliography	N/A	1000 words	1 figure (related to book)	3 references

 

Original Research: RHM accepts all types of original research related to the history of medical sciences all around the world including work on historical texts, experimental studies, comparing ancient knowledge with current findings, definition of historical concepts of medicine, etc. Abstracts should be unstructured. Only experimental studies need to have sections of Introduction, Material and methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion in main text. Other original researches should contain Introduction, Main Body of the paper (including sections of the results), Discussion and/or Conclusion.

Review article: These papers are historical reviews based on literature and published papers both narrative and systematic reviews.  Abstracts should be unstructured. Only systematic reviews need to have sections of Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion. Narrative Reviews should contain Introduction, Main Body of the paper (including sections of the results), Discussion and/or Conclusion.

Short Communication: Both original and review types could be written in the form of short communication. This type of article is shorter and has word count and number of tables, figures and references limitations. The content of short communications is not expanded as original and review studies.

Letter to the Editor: RHM accepts both types of letters. Letters could discuss on a previous published papers in RHM or be a research letter discussing a novel subject (without referring to a previous published paper in RHM).

Historical Image: One historical important image with up to 4 references could be published as Historical Image.

Biography: Biography of important physicians, scientists or any persons who had great contribution to medical sciences and have important impact to develop medicine in medical history could be published as Biography in RHM.

Bibliography and Book Review: RHM publishes reviews of historical medical texts (Bibliography) and recent books on history of medicine (Book Review).

Obituary: RHM publishes obituaries of Physicians, researchers or any scientists or persons who have great impact in medical sciences, died in 3 months before submitting the manuscript.

 

Manuscript formatting

Each manuscript must be included cover letter, cover page, abstract (if needed), text, acknowledgment (if exist), references, tables and figures. Each part must be begun in new page but all in a word file (Word 2007). Figures can be submitted in separate file (jpeg format). The whole parts of submission must be double-spaced with 1-inch margins, written by New Times Roman font, size of 12 in A4 papers. Number all manuscript pages. Use italics with bold type for section headings and subheadings, and do number. Indent new paragraphs.

Cover Letter - for all submissions: Correspondence must write a letter to editor and explain the importance of manuscript to publish.

Cover Page - for all submissions: Include the article title, a short running title (short form of the main title presented on the top of published pages under 50 characters, with space), the full names of all authors and their academic titles, affiliations and Orchid ID. Also phone number, postal address and email address of Correspondence must be noticed.

Abstract: Abstracts must be written in a paragraph just for original researches, reviews and short communications, followed by 3-5 Key Words selected from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). Limit word counts for abstracts are 300 words.

Text: Original articles, reviews and short communications must include some parts such as Introduction, Material and Methods (if needed), Results (if needed) and Discussion (and/or Conclusion) according to the article type. Headings and subheadings can be used with numbering. Letter to editors, historical figures do not need any headings and also headings can be used in biographies and bibliographies.

Acknowledgments: Authors can thank from any persons who help them to prepare manuscript and also any organizations which support them. This section must be located before references.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Assisted Technology

At submission, the authors should disclose whether they used artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies (such as Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots, or image creators) in the production of submitted work. Authors who use such technology should describe, in both the cover letter and the submitted work, how they used it. Chatbots (such as ChatGPT) should not be listed as authors because they cannot be responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work. Authors should carefully review and edit the result because AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. Authors should not list AI and AI assisted technologies as an author or co-author, nor cite AI as an author. Authors should be able to assert that there is no plagiarism in their paper, including in text and images produced by the AI. Humans must ensure there is appropriate attribution of all quoted material, including full citations.

Notes: Additional notes (for less than 50 words) could be included in the text respectively, just by Arabic numerals in superscript form (for e.g. ¹or ^{1, 2}). After the text, all notes must be written and numbered according to text in the section of Notes.

References: After Notes, full references should be listed in Harvard style and alphabetical order at the end of the paper, as below:

Book Referencing Example ® Mitchell, J.A. William, S.T. and Thomson, M., 2017. A guide to citation. 3rd ed. London: London Publisher.

Book Referencing with Four or More Authors Example ® Mitchell, J.A. et al., 1988. A guide to citation. New York: My Publisher.

Book Referencing with no Authors Example ® A guide to citation, 2017. London: Oxford.

Edited Book Example ® William, S.T. and Propp, K.K. eds., n.d. Referencing: a guide to citation rules. New York: My Publisher.

Chapter in an Edited Book Example ® Troy B.N., 2000. Harvard citation rules. In: Williams, S.T. ed. 2015. A guide to citation rules. New York: NY Publishers, pp. 34-89.

Multiple works by one author Example ®

          Mitchell, J.A. (2017a) A guide to citation. London: Oxford.

          Mitchell, J.A. (2017b) Harvard citation rules. New York: My Publisher.

Translated Book Example ® Mitchell, J.A., 2017. A guide to citation. Translated from German by J.A. Underwood. San Francisco: Arion.

E-Book Example ® Mitchell, J.A., Thomson, M. and Coyne, R.P., 2017. A guide to citation. [e-book]. Chester: Castle Press. Available at: https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/reference-manager [Accessed 10 September 2016]

Journal Article Example ® Mitchell, J.A., 2017. How citation changed the research world. The Mendeley, 62(9), pp. 70-81.

Journal Article Online Example ® Mitchell, J.A., 2017. How citation changed the research world. The Mendeley, [e-journal] 62(9). Available at:  https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/reference-manager [Accessed 15 November 2016]

Newspaper Article Example ® Mitchell, J.A., n.d. Changes to citation formats shake the research world. The Times, 6 July. pp. 9-12.

Online Newspaper Article Example ® Mitchell, J.A., 2017. Changes to citation formats shake the research world. Times Online, [Online] 6 July. Available at: https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/ [Accessed 15 November 2016]

Manuscripts Example ® Brown, P.S., 1915. An address to the Farmer. [Manuscript] Holdbury Collection. 600. London: Holdbury Library.

Conference Article Example ® Mitchell, J.A., 2005. Evaluating surveys of transparent governance. In: UNDESA (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs), 6^th Global forum on reinventing government. Seoul, Republic of Korea 24-27 May 2005. New York: United Nations.

Thesis Example ® Richmond, J., 2005. Customer expectations in the world of electronic banking: a case study of the Bank of Britain. Ph. D. Anglia Ruskin University.

Electronic Images Example ® Brown, B.S., 1983. Man Ray. [Photograph]  Available at: https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/reference-manager [Accessed 10 September 2016]

Note: Referencing AI-generated material as the primary source is not acceptable.

 

In-Text Citations: In-text references are references written within the main body of text and refer to a quote or paraphrase. They are much shorter than full references. The full reference of in-text citations appears in the reference list. In Harvard referencing, in-text citations contain the author(s)’s or editor(s)’s surname, year of publication and page number(s). For example: (Mitchell, n.d., p. 189) note that p. refers to a single page, pp. refers to a range of pages and n.d. refers to no date.

 

Two or Three Authors ® When citing a source with two or three authors, state all surnames like so: (Mitchell, Coyne and Thomson, 2017, p. 189)

Four or More Authors ® In this case, the first author’s surname should be stated followed by ‘et al’: (Mitchell et al, 2017, p, 189)

No Author ® If possible, use the organization responsible for the post in place of the author. If not, use the title in italics: (A guide to citation, 2017, pp. 189-201)

Multiple Works from the Same Author in the Same Year ® If referencing multiple works from one author released in the same year, the works are allocated a letter (a, b, c etc) after the year. This allocation is done in the reference list so is done alphabetically according to the author's surname and source title: (Mitchell, 2017a, p. 189)

Citing Multiple Works in One Parentheses ® List the in-text citations in the normal way but with semicolons between different references: (Mitchell, 2017, p. 189; Smith, 200; Andrews, 1989, pp. 165-176)

Citing Different Editions of the Same Work in One Parentheses ® Include the author(s)’s name only once followed by all the appropriate dates separated by semicolons: (Mitchell, 2010; 2017)

Citing a Reference with No Date ® In this case simply state ‘no date’ in place of the year: (Mitchell, no date, p. 189)

Citing a Secondary Source ® In this case, state the reference you used first followed by ‘cited in’ and the original author: (Smith, 2000, cited in Mitchell, 2017, p. 189)

Chapter in an Edited Book ® Use the chapter author surname, not the editor.

 

Tables and figures: Tables and figures can be added after the references in separate pages or submitted by separate file(s). A short descriptive title should appear above each table with a clear legend, with suitably identified notes below it. Also a clear legend is needed for each figure which must appear in the separate page at the end of manuscript (after the tables). Illustrations must be 300 dpi or higher resolution. The figures which were obtained from other sources and not original are needed to permission from original source.  

Numbers: Use Arabic numerals for all measurements, number of subjects in a group, ages, and the like, except when starting a sentence, where the numbers should be spelled out.

Non-English Words: Italicize non-English words (including society names, book titles, quotations, and isolated words), within the text.

Quotations: Short quotations within a paragraph should have double quotation marks. Use single quotation marks only for a quote within a quote. Long quotations (more than one sentence) should be indented as a block of text with opening and closing quotation marks in new and separate paragraph.

 

Reviewing

Editor will read the submission and, if it is suitable, will send it to reviewers. Feedback is usually within two months of receipt, includes a decision letter of rejection or acceptance and also can be sent back for revision. 

 

Peer Review Process

The articles are primarily evaluated by our statisticians who check the articles for any methodological flaws, format, and their compliance with the journal’s instructions. Then a submission code will be allocated and all the future contacts should be based on this code. Through a double-anonymized review, the articles will be reviewed by at least two external (peer) reviewers. Their comments will be passed to the authors and their responses to the comments along with the reviewers’ comments will then be evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief, and a final reviewer who can be a member of the Editorial Board. The final review process will be discussed in regular editorial board sessions and on the basis of the comments, and the journal’s scope, the Editors-in-Chief will decide which articles should be published.

 

Ethical Considerations

The journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). COPE's flowcharts and guidelines are approached in confronting any ethical misbehavior. The Journal also follows the guidelines mentioned in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscript Submitted to Biomedical Journals (http://www.icmje.org/#privacy).

 

Human and Animal Rights

Research involving human subjects, human material, or human data, must have been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and must have been approved by an independent local, regional or national review body (e.g., ethics committee, institutional review board).

When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether institutional and national standards for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed. Further guidance on animal research ethics is available from the International Association of Veterinary Editors’ Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare.

Authors are encouraged to refer to the SAGER guidelines for reporting of sex and gender information in study design, data analyses, results, and interpretation of findings: www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/sager-guidelines/.

 

Informed consent

All patients and participants of the research should be thoroughly informed about the aims of the study and any possible side effects of the drugs and intervention. Written informed consent from the participants or their legal guardians is necessary for any such studies. The Journal reserves the right to request the related documents.

 

Authorship

Based on the newly released Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, by the ICMJE, “an Author” is generally considered to be someone who meets the following conditions 1, 2, 3, and 4.

1-Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND

2-Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND

3-Final approval of the version to be published; AND

4-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.

 

Conflict of Interest

We request all the authors to inform us about any kinds of "Conflict of Interest" (such as financial, personal, political, or academic) that would potentially affect their judgment. Authors are preferably asked to fill the uniform disclosure form available through: (http://www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf)

 

Plagiarism

The authors are not allowed to utilize verbatim text of previously published papers or manuscripts submitted elsewhere.All submitted manuscripts will be checked for possible similarity in any part of the work by iThenticate plagiarism checker. Based on the amount of plagiarism detected in a manuscript, will be passed to the authors and ask them to rephrase copied phrases or include as direct quotations with references. COPE’s flowcharts and guidelines are approached in cases in which plagiarism is detected.

 

Data Fabrication/Falsification

Falsification is the practice of omitting or altering research materials, data, or processes so that the results of the research are no longer accurately reflected. Fabrication is the practice of inventing data or results and reporting them in the research. Both of these misconducts are fraudulent and seriously alter the integrity of the research. Therefore, articles must be written based on original data and the use of falsified or fabricated data is strongly prohibited. In confronting cases with fabricated or falsified data COPE’s flowcharts and guidelines are followed.

 

Image Manipulation

The RHM Journal encourages authors to send their original images. All digital images in manuscripts accepted for publication will be checked for inappropriate manipulation. No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable as long as they are applied to the entire image and do not misrepresent any information present in the original, including the background. The editors will request the original data from the authors to compare the manipulated figures in cases suspected of inappropriate manipulation.

 

Copyright

If a manuscript contains any previous published image or text, it is the responsibility of the author to obtain authorization from copyright holders. The author is required to obtain and submit the written original permission letters for all copyrighted material used in his/her manuscripts.

 

Proofs and Reprints

When a manuscript is accepted and ready to publish, a final proof will be send to correspondence to approve it or correct errors. After approving the proof, it will be published in the Journal as soon as possible.

 

Open Access Policy 

This journal provides immediate free access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

  

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

 

Retraction Policy

The RHM Journal uses the COPE flowchart for retraction of a published article (http://publicationethics.org/guidelines) to determine whether a published article should be retracted.

 

Complaints and appeals

The “Journal of Research on History of Medicine” responds promptly to complaints and ensures there is a way for dissatisfied complainants to take complaints further by sending an email to editor-in-chief of the journal. We follow the COPE's guidelines and flowcharts for handling complaints against the journal, its staff, editorial board or publisher.